Antony Beevor

Early life and career

Beevor was educated at two independent schools: at Abberley Hall School in Worcestershire, followed by Winchester College in Hampshire. He then went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Berkshire, where he studied under the military historian John Keegan, and is a former officer with the 11th Hussars; he served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission.

Beevor has been a visiting professor at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London and at the University of Kent.

He revised his 1982 The Spanish Civil War in 2006 as The Battle for Spain, which keeps the structure and some language from its predecessor, but uses the updated narrative and detailed style of his Stalingrad book. The reworked release adds characters and archival research from Germany and Russia.

Personal life

He is descended from a long line of writers, being a son of "Kinta" Beevor (born Janet Carinthia Waterfield, 22 December 1911 – 29 August 1995), who was the daughter of Lina Waterfield, an author and foreign correspondent for The Observer and a descendant of Lucie Duff-Gordon (author of a travelogue on Egypt). Kinta Beevor wrote A Tuscan Childhood. Antony Beevor is married to biographer Artemis Cooper; they have two children, Nella and Adam.

Reception of written works

His best-known works, the best-selling Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945, recount the World War II battles between the Soviet Union and Germany. They have been praised for their vivid, compelling style, their treatment of the ordinary lives of combatants and civilians and the use of newly disclosed documents from Soviet archives.

His 2012 book The Second World War is noted for its focus on the conditions and grief faced by civilians and women and for its "masterful" coverage of the war in East Asia. Beevor's expertise has been the subject of some commentary; his publications have been praised as revitalizing interest in World War II topics and have allowed readers to reevaluate events such as D-Day from a new perspective. He has also appeared as an expert in documentaries related to World War II.

Overall, his works have been translated into over 30 languages with over 6 million copies sold.

In August 2015, Russia's Yekaterinburg region considered the banning of Beevor's books, accusing him of Nazi sympathies citing his lack of Russian sources when writing about Russia, and promoting false stereotypes introduced by Nazi Germany during World War II. Beevor responded by calling the banning "a government trying to impose its own version of history" like other "attempts to dictate a truth" such as the denial of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.

Honours

Beevor was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for "services in support of Armed Forces Professional Development".

Beevor is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a member of Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana and a commander of the Order of the Crown.

He was also awarded an Honorary D.Litt. from the University of Bath in 2010, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent, awarded in 2004.

His book Crete: The Battle and the Resistance for which he won the Runciman Prize, administered by the Anglo-Hellenic League for stimulating interest in Greek history and culture.

Beevor has been recognized with the 2014 Pritzker Military Museum & Library's Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Tim O'Brien, the 2013 recipient, made the announcement on behalf of the selection committee. The award carried a purse of $US 100,000.

In July 2016, he was awarded the Medlicott Medal for services to history by the UK based Historical Association.

Beevor also sits on the Council of the Society of Authors.

Awards

Published works

He has written thirteen books, novels and non-fiction.

Antony Beevor has edited books, including:

He has also contributed to several other books, including: