K N O P F
B I O
a b o u t
N e i l
a u t h o r
H a n s o n
o f
U N K N OW N S O L D I E R S
Th e S t o r y o f t h e M i s s i n g o f t h e F i r s t Wo r l d Wa r
Neil Hanson has crammed an awful lot of living into just one life. Since taking a degree in
Philosophy at Oxford University, England, he has travelled around the world twice; been an
art critic, a director of a number of art and photography galleries, the Chair of the Northern
Arts Visual Arts Panel, owner of the highest pub in England, and a radio broadcaster for the
BBC and for independent radio networks in Australia and New Zealand. He has written for
every British national newspaper and for media around the world, made guest appearances on
everything from BBC Television’s flagship news program to Australia’s top-rated radio show
and NBC’s Today Show. He is also a highly successful after-dinner speake r, has appeared at
numerous writers’ festivals, written two screenplays, made a couple of television films, edited
an assortment of magazines, and has written forty published novels and non-fiction books
under a variety of noms de plume.
A prolific “ghost writer” with a string of best-sellers under other people’s names including a
New York Times number one best-seller, Neil Hanson has now found success in his own right
with three acclaimed works of narrative non-fiction. The Custom of the Sea is the true story of a
nineteenth century shipwreck. The murder and cannibalism practiced by the survivors led to
a show trial that set one half of British society against the other and made headlines around
the world. The Great Fire of London is the true story of one of the greatest and most celebrated
disasters in history. By drawing on previously undiscovered documents and using modern
knowledge to cast fresh light on the affair, Neil Hanson overturned the traditional view of the
fire as a disaster that destroyed a great city but claimed only a handful of lives. Here he demonstrated
that the true death toll was hundreds and probably thousands, and offered a tantalizing
glimpse of the most likely culprit for the blaze. The Confident Hope of a Miracle is the product of
meticulous research among undiscovered or long-neglected documents and his willingness
to use modern knowledge to cast light on past events. Now, in UNKNOWN SOLDIERS Neil
Hanson brings us an unflinching account of the reality of the battle on the front lines of WWII,
and of the monuments that are part of the war’s sobering legacy.
Neil Hanson is married with two children and lives on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in England.