Max Hastings
editor, author | |
---|---|
Employers | |
Spouses |
|
Children | 3 |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Clare Hastings (sister) |
Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings
Early life
Hastings' parents were Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and correspondent, and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.[3] He was educated at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.
tʃ== Career == Hasved to the
Hastings was the first person accompanying the British Task Force to enter Port Stanley on the last day of the 1982 Falklands War. After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he returned to the Evening Standard as editor in 1996 and remained there until his retirement in 2002.[4] Hastings was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2002 Birthday Honours for services to journalism.[5] He was elected a member of the political dining society known as The Other Club in 1993.[6]
He has presented historical documentaries for the BBC and is the author of many books, including Bomber Command, which earned the
In 2012, he was awarded the US$100,000
In his 2007 book Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45 (known as Retribution in the United States), the chapter on Australia's role in the last year of the Pacific War was criticised by the chief of the Returned and Services League of Australia and one of the historians at the Australian War Memorial, for allegedly exaggerating discontent in the Australian Army.[8] Dan van der Vat in The Guardian called it "even-handed", "refreshing" and "sensitive" and praised the language used.[9] The Spectator called it "brilliant" and praised his telling of the human side of the story.[10]
Hastings wrote a column for the
Personal life
Hastings lives near Hungerford, Berkshire,[12] with his second wife, Penelope (née Levinson), whom he married in 1999. Hastings has a surviving son and daughter by his first wife, Patricia Edmondson, to whom he was married from 1972 until 1994.[3] In 2000, his 27-year-old first son, Charles, died by suicide in Ningbo, China.[12][13] He dedicated his book Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944–45, which was published in 2007, to Charles's memory.[14]
Political views
Hastings has at different times voted for all three major British political parties. He announced his support for the Conservative Party at the 2010 general election, having previously voted for the Labour Party at the 1997 and 2001 general elections. He said that "four terms are too many for any government" and described Gordon Brown as "wholly psychologically unfit to be Prime Minister".[15] At elections since he has voted for the Liberal Democrats.
In August 2014, Hastings was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[16]
In June 2019, Hastings described
In his
In March 2021, Hastings wrote that the prospect of a showdown between the United States and China over Taiwan was becoming increasingly likely.[21]
Select bibliography
Reportage
- America 1968: The Fire this Time (Gollancz, 1969) ISBN 0-575-00234-4
- Ulster 1969: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland (Gollancz, 1970) ISBN 0-575-00482-7
- The Battle for the Falklands (with ISBN 0-393-01761-3
Biography
- Montrose: The King's Champion (ISBN 0-575-02226-4
- Yoni: Hero of Entebbe: Life of Yonathan Netanyahu (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980) ISBN 0-297-77565-0
Autobiography
- Going to the Wars (Macmillan, 2000) ISBN 0-333-77104-4
- Editor: A Memoir (Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 0-333-90837-6
- Did You Really Shoot the Television?: A Family Fable (London, HarperPress, 2010) ISBN 978-0-00-727171-9
History
- Bomber Command (Michael Joseph, 1979) ISBN 0-7181-1603-8
- The Battle of Britain (with ISBN 0-224-01826-4
- Das Reich: Resistance and the March of the Second SS Panzer Division Through France, June 1944 (Michael Joseph, 1981) ISBN 0-03-057059-X
- Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (ISBN 0-671-46029-3
- Victory in Europe (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985) ISBN 0-316-81334-6
- The Korean War (Michael Joseph, 1987) ISBN 0-671-52823-8
- Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944–45 (ISBN 0-333-90836-8
- Warriors: Exceptional Tales from the Battlefield (HarperPress [UK], 2005) ISBN 978-0-00-719756-9
- Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944–45 (HarperPress [UK], October 2007) ISBN 978-0-307-26351-3)
- Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940–45 (London, HarperPress, 2009) ISBN 978-0-307-26839-6)
- ISBN 978-0-307-27359-8. 729 pp)
- Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914 (London, Knopf Press, 24 September 2013) ISBN 978-0307597052, 640 pp.
- The Secret War: Spies, Codes And Guerrillas 1939–45 (London: William Collins, 2015) ISBN 9780007503742
- Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy 1945–1975 (William Collins, 2018) ISBN 978-0062405678[22]
- Chastise: The Dambusters Story 1943 (William Collins, 2019) ISBN 9780008280529
- Operation Pedestal: The Fleet that Battled to Malta 1942 (William Collins, 2021) ISBN 978-0008364946
- Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 (William Collins, 2022) ISBN 978-0008364991
- Operation Biting: The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler's Radar (William Collins, 2024) ISBN 978-0008642167
Countryside writing
- Outside Days (Michael Joseph, 1989) ISBN 0-7181-3330-7
- Scattered Shots (Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 0-333-77103-6
- Country Fair (HarperCollins, October 2005) ISBN 0-00-719886-8. 288 pp
Anthology
- The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (ed.) (ISBN 0-19-214107-4
- Soldiers: Great Stories of War and Peace (William Collins, 2021) ISBN 978-0008454227
Journalism
- Hastings, Max (16 January 2010). "The Tory defence policy will be simple: cut, brutally". The Spectator. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
Filmography
- Wellington Bomber, 2010 BBC documentary
- First World War.[23]
See also
References
- )
- ^ "Max Hastings", The Times
- ^ .
- ^ a b "Biography". Max Hastings. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "No. 56595". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2002. p. 1.
- ^ Lloyd, John (29 July 1997). "Secret members of the Other Club". The Times. p. 13.
- ^ "Britain's Max Hastings wins $100K military writing prize". CBC News. 19 June 2012.
- ^ Walker, Frank (2 December 2007). "Mutinous jibe angers veterans". The Age. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
- ^ van der Vat, Dan (13 October 2007). "Review: Nemesis by Max Hastings". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- ^ Howard, Michael (3 October 2007). "The worst of friends". The Spectator. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- ^ "Max Hastings - Bloomberg". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the originalon 1 June 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-00-721982-7.
In memory of my son CHARLES HASTINGS 1973–2000
- ^ Hastings, Max (11 April 2010). "My vote". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ Hastings, Max (24 June 2019). I was Boris Johnson's boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ^ Hastings, Max (14 February 2021). "There Will Always Be an England, But Not a U.K." Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Huw Edwards slams former Telegraph editor for anti-Welsh language article". Nation Cymru. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "America Is Headed to a Showdown Over Taiwan, and China Might Win". Bloomberg.com. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ Steele, Jonathan (22 September 2018). "Vietnam by Max Hastings review – an effort to exonerate the US military". The Guardian.
- ^ "BBC Two - The Necessary War". BBC. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
External links
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Max Hastings at IMDb
- Max Hastings on Journalisted
- "Hastings, Sir Max (Macdonald), (born 28 Dec. 1945), author and journalist". Who's Who. Oxford University Press. 2007. )
- Profile, debretts.com; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Archive of Hastings' articles, The Guardian; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Interview re "Editor: A Memoir", guardian.co.uk; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Profile, pritzkermilitary.org; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Interview on Inferno, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, 16 November 2011; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Winston's War, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, 17 March 2010; accessed 2 April 2014.
- Interview on Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, 1 May 2008; accessed 2 April 2014
- Interview on Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944–1945], Pritzker Military Museum & Library, 30 November 2004; accessed 2 April 2014.