MOORCRAFT, Paul L. 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born 1948, in Wales. Ethnicity: "Welsh." Education: Attended Hebrew University and University of Rhodesia; Swansea University, B.A. (joint honors); Lancaster University, M.A.; Cardiff University, P.G.C.E., D.Litt. et Phil.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Surrey House, 91 Hight St., Esher, Surrey KT 10 9QA, England. Agent—Ruth Cohen, P.O. Box 1313, La Jolla, CA 92038. E-mail—moorcraft@aol.com.

CAREER:

Journalist and educator. Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England, senior instructor, 1973-75; Joint Services Command and Staff College, senior instructor, 1997-2000; worked with Defence Procurement Agency, 2000; editor, Defence Review; former correspondent, Time; former television and radio producer for the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC); visiting distinguished Radford Professor of Journalism, Baylor University. Worked in various war zones in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Balkans, with irregular forces. Local councillor, South Wales.

WRITINGS:

A Short Thousand Years: The End of Rhodesia's Rebellion, Galazie Press (Salisbury, England), 1979, revised edition, 1980.

Contact II: Struggle for Peace, Sygma (Johannesburg, South Africa), 1981.

Africa's Super Power, Sygma/Collins (Johannesburg, South Africa), 1981.

(With Peter McLaughlin) Chimurenga: The War in Rhodesia, 1982.

(With Mike Cohen) Stander: Bank Robber, Galago (Johannesburg, South Africa), 1984.

African Nemesis: War and Revolution in Southern Africa, 1945-2010, Brassey (Washington, DC), 1990.

What the Hell Am I Doing Here?, 1995. Anchoress of Shere (novel), Poisoned Pen Press (Scottsdale, AZ), 2002.

Guns and Poses: Travels with an Occasional War Correspondent, Brassey (Washington, DC), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

The Strange Journey of Tom Martin, a novel.

SIDELIGHTS:

Paul L. Moorcraft is a British military historian and television documentary producer who has witnessed a number of military conflicts throughout the world. Among his many books on military subjects is African Nemesis: War and Revolution in Southern Africa, 1945-2010, a study of the major wars, civil wars, and uprisings in the countries of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, as well as a predictive look forward at possible future conflicts. Reviewing the title in History Today, Saul Dubow praised Moorcraft's "keen command of military and strategic matters."

Moorcraft turns to fiction with his novel Anchoress of Shere, the story of a Catholic priest who is asked to write the biography of Christine Carpenter, a real-life woman who asked to be walled-up in a church in rural England in 1329 so she could spend the rest of her days in meditation and prayer. Father Michael Duval's research into the odd decision unhinges his mind and causes him to obsess about the self-imprisoned Christine. He kidnaps, imprisons, and kills young women whom he believes are similar to the medieval saint. When Duval kidnaps Marda Stewart, however, she cleverly realizes the nature of his obsession and begins an intellectual game with him to delay his murderous intentions. Rex E. Klett in Library Journal praised the novel as an "intense, fascinating look at religious dementia." A critic for Publishers Weekly called Anchoress of Shere a "brilliantly original tale."

Speaking of his novel, Moorcraft told CA: "The big critical success of Anchoress of Shere in the United States has really pleased me. I wrote a lot for television (mainly documentaries) and so thought in filmic terms. It was originally a screenplay, then radio drama, finally a novel which looks like it is going to be made into a Hollywood film. Full circle. The book is about representing evil (in the Middle Ages) and translating it into the modern day. I am not a Catholic, not a sadist and not a medieval historian—I didn't want to accept the conventional wisdom and write what you know about. It is written in two time zones (at least) and at three different intellectual levels. A tough challenge. Basically it is a story though. I have been a professional writer of nonfiction all my life and I wanted to be a novelist—a story teller—as well."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

History Today, November, 1995, Saul Dubow, review of African Nemesis: War and Revolution in Southern Africa, 1945-2010, p. 57.

Library Journal, May 1, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Anchoress of Shere, p. 138.

Publishers Weekly, April 1, 2002, review of Anchoress of Shere, p. 57.