Claire, Rodger W(illiam)

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CLAIRE, Rodger W(illiam)

PERSONAL: Male. Education: University of California, Santa Barbara, B.A. (English); University of California, Los Angeles, M.A. (English), doctoral study in English.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Journalist and author. Oui and Playboy magazines, articles editor; Los Angeles Magazine, executive editor for eleven years.

MEMBER: Writers Guild of America.

WRITINGS:

Entertainment 101: An Industry Primer, Pomegranate Press (Beverly Hills, CA), 1999.

Raid on the Sun: Inside Israel's Secret Campaign ThatDenied Saddam the Bomb, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Though trained as an academic, Rodger W. Claire abandoned a doctoral program in English literature to become a journalist. He worked as an editor for two adult magazines, Oui and Playboy, before serving as executive editor of Los Angeles Magazine, a position he held for eleven years. In 1999 he published his first book, Entertainment 101: An Industry Primer, an insider's guide to the entertainment industry that details the lesser-known but essential personnel roles and unofficial relationships that determine success in film, television, music, theater, and new media production.

Claire's second book, Raid on the Sun: Inside Israel's Secret Campaign That Denied Saddam the Bomb, recounts the daring 1981 Israeli bombing of a nuclear reactor in Iraq. The reactor, sold to Iraq by the French government for civilian use, was viewed as an imminent threat to Israel's national security, as Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, was widely suspected of using the plant to produce weapons-grade plutonium for a nuclear bomb. After a failed Iranian raid on the reactor, located near Baghdad, the Israelis planned their own raid under the highest levels of secrecy. The dangerous mission, ordered by Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, involved eight F-16 fighter jets purchased from the United States and fitted with makeshift fuel tanks to extend their range just enough for the flight to Iraq and back. Flying at ground level over Jordan and Saudi Arabia to avoid detection, the Israeli pilots destroyed the reactor with specially equipped 2,000-pound bombs. The mission was a strategic triumph for Israel, but was immediately condemned by the international community, including the United States, as an act of recklessness.

Providing the most detailed and comprehensive public account of the mission to date, Raid on the Sun was commended by reviewers as a highly engaging story that captures the human dimension of those involved, especially the pilots, whose personalities, rigorous preparation, and courage Claire brings to life. While Library Journal reviewer Charles M. Minyard noted that Claire's "sensitivity to the human element of the story . . . is striking," National Review contributor David Pryce-Jones observed that Claire relates the story "in a racy magazine style" that is "full of human interest" and technical detail fit for "aviation buffs." Praising Claire's dramatic narrative as "a gripping account" of the historic mission, a Publishers Weekly reviewer called Raid on the Sun "a techno-thriller that is difficult to put down."