Carlo D'Este (born 1938 in Oakland, California) is an American military historian and biographer, author of several books, especially on World War II. He is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel.
New Mexico Military Institute junior college, 1956Norwich University magna cum laude, 1958University of Richmond masters, 1974University of London under the G.I. billCareer and other work
Military historian and biographer, 1978–presentMember of Department of the Army Historical Advisory CommitteeHonorary member, Board of Fellows of Norwich UniversityPresident of the Friends of Norwich LibraryTrustee of Mashpee Public Library, Mashpee, MassachusettsUnited States Army, tours of duty in Germany and Vietnam, retired as lieutenant colonel, 1978.Lecturer at School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff CollegeFounded (with W.E.B. Griffin) the William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium (1996). That organization presents the Colby Award.Advised President of the United States Bill Clinton on his visit to Italy, England, and Normandy (1994)D'Este lists his three favorite military historians and influences as: Barbara Tuchman (The Guns of August), John Eisenhower (The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge), and Martin Blumenson (general George S. Patton’s official biographer).
A&E adapted his biography of George S. Patton to television for its Biography (TV series) (and, presumably, its Biography Channel) in 1995. In 1996, C-SPAN interviewed him about that book on its Booknotes program.
Decorations, awards and honors
Hall of Fame, New Mexico Military Institute, 2002Norwich University, D.H.L., 1992Board of Fellows Service Medallion, Norwich University, 2008He was awarded the Andrew J. Goodpaster Prize by the American Veterans Center, 2010.
He delivered the annual Kemper Lecture on Winston Churchill at Westminster, College, Fulton, Missouri, 2010.
In 2011, he received the $100,000 Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The award includes an honorarium, citation and medallion, sponsored by the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. As part of the award, he gave an interview at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on October 21, 2011, reflecting on his writing career in the field of World War II scholarship.
Decision in Normandy: The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign, Dutton (New York, NY), 1983. ISBN 9780060924959Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988. ISBN 9780525244714World War II in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945, Algonquin (Chapel Hill, NC), 1990. ISBN 9780945575047Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991. ISBN 9780060158903Patton: A Genius for War, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995. ISBN 9780060164553Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, 1890–1945, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2002. ISBN 9780805056860Warlord : a life of Winston Churchill at war, 1874-1945 (1st ed.). New York City, New York: HarperCollins. November 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-057573-1. Retrieved 2008-11-26. (introduction to) "Sicilia 1943. Lo sbarco alleato" by Ezio Costanzo (author), Le Nove Muse Editrice (Catania, Italy), 2003(introduction to) Battle, the Story of the Bulge, John Toland, Random House (New York, NY), 1959(contributor to) Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943, edited by Eugenio Corti, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 1997.D'Este, Carlo (July 25, 2004). "'Warsaw Will Be Liquidated'". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-28. Review of Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw, by Norman Davies. 