Mark Thompson (born 1959) is a British historian. The most recent of his four books is Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kis (2013), which was described by Adam Thirlwell, in a lead review in the Times Literary Supplement, as "a great biography of the work as much as the life".[1]
The White War. Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 (2008)[2] is the first comprehensive narrative history in English of the part played by Italy in World War I. It was selected as Book of the Week by The Guardian newspaper, and hailed there as "magnificent ... original, masterly and definitive."[3]
Forging War (1999) is an account of the media manipulation that took place before and during the Wars of Yugoslav Succession.[4]
A Paper House (1992) is a political travelogue which describes the federal republic of Yugoslavia upon the brink of dissolution.
Thompson has also edited, with Louis Mackay, Something in the Wind: Politics after Chernobyl (1988), and has translated fiction from French, Italian and Croatian.
His CV includes stints as the head of media analysis for the biggest peacekeeping mission mounted by the United Nations (UNPROFOR), in 1994 and 1995; the first political officer to serve with the UN's smallest peacekeeping mission (UNMOP) in 1997; the spokesman and head of media affairs for the mission to Croatia of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1998 and 1999; and the Balkans Program Director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) in 2000 and 2001.
In 2015, Thompson took up a position as Reader in Modern History at the University of East Anglia (half time). He lives in Oxford, where he supervises a small number of undergraduate and graduate students at the Faculty of History. Thompson is an alumnus of Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood.
Awards and honours
[edit]- 2009 Hessell-Tiltman Prize winner for The White War[5]
- 2009 Orwell Prize shortlist for The White War[6]
- 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography) shortlist for Birth Certificate[7][8]
- 2015 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature winner for Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Thirlwell, Adam (9 October 2013). "Why we need Danilo Kiš". Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ^ Thompson, Mark (17 March 2009). The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915 - 1919. Basic Books. ISBN 9780786744381.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Brendon, Piers (30 August 2008). "The open veins of Italy". The Guardian.
- ^ Thompson, Mark (1999). Forging war: the media in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina. Indiana University Press. ISBN 1860205526.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ "PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize". Englishpen.org. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
- ^ "The Orwell Prize". The Orwell Prize. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
- ^ Kirsten Reach (14 January 2014). "NBCC finalists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ "2015 Edition". Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. Retrieved 27 November 2015.