Arthur Herman

Arthur Herman is a leading historian whose books and articles have been praised by critics and academics alike. Herman's expertise is in American and world history, with a special focus on the military, naval and aviation history of the United States. He is an author, historian, lecturer, and consultant to a variety of organizations, including TV and radio programs, museums, and other respected institutions. Although his roots are in the Midwest, he currently lives in the Washington, DC area, where he directs research and publications for the Center for Military History.

Arthur Herman was born in 1950 and raised in Michigan, attending the University of Michigan for his undergraduate degree and later completing his PhD in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completing his doctorate, he worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Herman's books, which have been published around the world, explore various aspects of history, including the American Revolution, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, the history of technology, and the various wars of the twentieth century. In addition to his books, Herman has also penned articles for a variety of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, The National Interest, and The American Spectator.

His most acclaimed book is ‘Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age', published in 2008. This book is a riveting history of the two men at the centre of the struggle for power in the British Empire. It offers an insightful analysis of the men's motivations and of their relationship, which ended in a clash that shaped our modern world. The book won several book prizes, and reviews were overwhelmingly positive. It was praised as "an outstanding account…superbly well-researched…utterly gripping" as well as "a stimulating tribute to the power of imaginative historical inquiry".

Herman's other notable work is ‘To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World', which won the Grand Prize for the best history book published between 2001 and 2005. It explores the origins, rise, and fall of the British navy over the centuries and details in vivid and entertaining narrative how it dominated Victorian society and developed modern naval warfare tactics and advancements.

Herman is also the author of the prize-winning book ‘Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II’. This book tells the remarkable story of how American industry overcame manpower shortages and massive material shortages, and how industrialists such as Henry Kaiser and William Knudsen helped create the largest war production machine the world had ever seen.

In addition to these books, Herman serves as a consultant on several television and documentary projects, most notably the documentary series 'Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein'. He also contributes to radio shows and podcasts, including BBC Radio 4's In Our Time, and has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities worldwide, including Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Virginia.

Arthur Herman is one of the leading military and world historians of our time and is best known for his thought-provoking books and articles. With every book he writes, he continues to broaden our understanding of our world and its history.