William Stevenson (Canadian writer)
| William Henry Stevenson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 June 1924 |
| Died |
26 November 2013 (aged 89) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canada |
| Occupation | author |
William Henry Stevenson (1 June 1924 – 26 November 2013) was a British-born Canadian author and journalist.[1]
His 1976 book A Man Called Intrepid was about William Stephenson (no relation) and was a best-seller (see the Stephenson article for more). It was made into a 1979 mini-series starring David Niven and Stevenson followed it up with a 1983 book titled Intrepid's Last Case. He published his autobiography in 2012.
Stevenson set a record with another 1976 book, 90 Minutes at Entebbe.[2] The book was about Operation Entebbe, an operation where Israeli commandos secretly landed at night at Entebbe Airport in Uganda and succeeded in rescuing the passengers of an airliner hi-jacked by Palestinian militants, while incurring very few casualties. The remarkable record in that pre-internet age is that Stevenson's "instant book" was written, edited, printed and available for sale within weeks of the event it described.[3][4]
Bibliography
(This list is incomplete.)
- The Yellow Wind, 1959, Houghton Mifflin Co., Library of Congress No. 59-11830. Reportage on the People's Republic of China between 1954-1957.
- The Bushbabies, 1965, Houghton Mifflin Co., Library of Congress No. 65-2509. Children's story inspired by his own family's adventures in Africa.
- The Bormann Brotherhood, 1973 (non-fiction)
- A Man Called Intrepid, 1976, Harcourt, ISBN 0-15-156795-6. (non-fiction)
- The Ghosts of Africa, 1980, Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-15-135338-5 ISBN 0151353387. Historical fiction set in World War I colonial German East Africa.
- Intrepid's Last Case, 1983, Michael Joseph Ltd, ISBN 0-7181-2441-3. (non-fiction)
- Eclipse, 1986 (fiction)
- Booby Trap, 1987 (fiction)
- Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs in Vietnam, 1990, Dutton, ISBN 0-525-24934-6. Co-written with his wife Monika Jensen-Stevenson. (non-fiction)
- 90 Minutes at Entebbe, Bantam, ISBN 0-553-10482-9 (non-fiction)
- Strike Zion 1967 (non-fiction)
- Zanek!; A Chronicle of the Israeli Force (non-fiction)
- The Revolutionary King: : the true-life sequel to the King and I, 2001, Constable and Robinson, ISBN 1-84119-451-4.
- Spymistress: The Life of Vera Atkins, the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, 2006, Arcade Publishing, ISBN 978-1-55970-763-3. (biography)
- Past to Present: A Reporter’s Story of War, Spies, People, and Politics, Lyons Press, 2012.[5]
References
- ↑ "William Stevenson, author of A Man Called Intrepid, dies". CBC News. 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-12-06.
- ↑ "Instant book out on Entebbe raid". The Saturday Citizen. 1976-07-23. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
The book in both English and Hebrew editions is to be on sale within weeks of the July 4 Israeli raid.
- ↑ Roger Cohen (1990-09-07). "Crisis in Iraq Inspires Spate of Books". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
Instant books have enjoyed a considerable vogue since Bantam's success in 1976 with 90 Minutes at Entebbe, a book about the Israeli raid in Uganda.
- ↑ Timothy Leary. "Turning News Into Movies: The Making Of the Deal". Esquire magazine. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
90 Minutes at Entebbe, by William Stevenson, was available to readers July 25, just twenty-two days after the raid.
- ↑ Ross, Oakland (Oct 20, 2012). "William Stevenson: The Star's one-man foreign service". Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
External links
- Publisher's biographical notes in Intrepid's Last Case.
- Kiss the Truth Goodbye review at miafacts.com (only in respect of Stevenson's wife, and the existence of that book)
- William Stevenson at the Internet Movie Database