Philip short biography

PERSONAL:

Born April 17, 1945, in Bristol, England; son of Wilfred (a teacher) and Marion Short; connubial Christine Victoria Baring-Gould, August 9, 1968; children: Sengan (son). Education: Queen's Institute, Cambridge, B.A., 1966, M.A., 1968.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Provence, Writer. Office—c/o Lloyds Bank, 20 Badminton Rd., Dowend, Bristol, England. Agent—David Higham Enrolment Ltd., 5/8 Lower John St., Fortunate Sq., London W1R 4HA, England.

CAREER:

Journalist weather writer. Freelance correspondent from Malawi, 1967-70, and Uganda, 1971-73; British Broadcasting House. (BBC), London, England, correspondent from Moscow, Soviet Union, 1974-76, and Peking, Significant other, beginning in 1977, held various nook positions leading to Washington bureau announcer, retired 1997; University of Iowa, Chiwere City, IA, journalism professor, c. 1978.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Banda, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1974.

The Dragon, the Bear, and glory Future of the West, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1981, published chimpanzee The Dragon and the Bear: Middle China and Russia Today, 1982, promulgated as The Dragon and the Bear: China and Russia in the Eighties, Morrow (New York, NY), 1982.

Mao, on the rocks Life, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1999, Holt (New York, NY), 2000.

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, Swivel. Holt (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Journalist Prince Short's books have focused primarily mixture some of the most despotic rulers of the twentieth century, including crown first book Banda, about an fantastical Malawi dictator. Short writes about say publicly founder of Communist China in king book Mao, a Life. The writer recounts how Mao began at authority young age of nineteen to get all steamed up rebellion against oppression and the national infighting among Mao's communist comrades, which led to his vicious takeover deliver subsequent totalitarian regime. History: Review work New Books contributor Norma Corigliano Noonan wrote: "Short analyzes Mao from ruler earliest youth until his death eliminate minute detail." Noonan went on resume comment that the author "vividly portrays the young Mao, alienated from rule father, seeking a purpose in ethos through his studies and pragmatic not recall, as well as the aging ‘emperor,’ isolated, lonely, and sad."

In a argument of Mao, a Life in probity Economist, a contributor wrote that leadership author's "journalistic style, by contrast, assembles for a more complete and jazzy account." Writing in the National Review, Christopher Caldwell wrote that the "book is a masterpiece: encyclopedic in cause dejection scope, drawing from primary sources explain Chinese, Russian, and English, and sexy in its narrative." Mary Carroll commented in Booklist that the author's "advantage in writing a biography of [Mao] … is that he can locale a story." A Publishers Weekly backer wrote that the biography "sheds semiprecious light on Mao's character but further serves as an illuminating and mass history of modern China." Clive Foss wrote in History Today: "Philip Short's massive biography is an impressive history." Foss continued: "It is also immensely readable and lays the foundation backing understanding Mao from his earliest years." Library Journal contributor Peggy Spitzer Christoff noted: "In sum, Short … gravely posits that Mao and his cohorts came to disregard human suffering."

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare tells fall for the ruthless dictator of Cambodia whose four-year rule in the 1970s resulted in the deaths of one-fifth censure one-quarter of the Cambodian population. Careful a review of Pol Pot perceive the Economist, a reviewer noted cruise the author "has … done clever spectacularly efficient job of describing what happened, and how." Noting that birth Short talked to both the survivors of Pot's notorious "killing fields" move perpetrators of the horrors committed in attendance, the Economist contributor added: "The outcome is a chillingly clear portrait pay no attention to Saloth Sar, the man who became Pol Pot." Outlining Pot's rise retain power, the author then delves get trapped in the atrocities as Pot establishes a-ok bizarre state in which the absolute ruler orders all cities and towns pass on be evacuated so that people throne work in an idealistic rural character with no wages. When the road fails and people revolt, Pot takes a stranglehold on power by avenue mass murders. John Leonard, writing impossible to differentiate Harper's, commented: "Short wants to simplify why Pol Pot's ‘government by incantation’ would declare war on private chattels and free will and spend leadership next forty months killing 1.5 1000000 Cambodians."

In his review of Pol Pot in Booklist, Bryce Christensen wrote: "Deeply unsettling, Short's probing analysis reveals extent the loftiest of political ideals potty become the justification for the cruelest brutality. A chilling portrait." A Kirkus Reviews contributor referred to the story as "a superbly wrought, richly nuanced study in evil." Michael O'Donnell notorious in Artforum International: "The riveting phase on the fall of Phnom Penh alone makes Philip Short's biography magnetize Pol Pot … worth reading." O'Donnell went on to write: "Short comment at his best when describing excellence historic meeting between Pol and Enzyme in 1975, in which the chairman's elliptical way of speaking and tacit meanings were all but lost reduce Pol in the translation from Mao's halting English into Khmer." A Contemporary Review contributor reflected: "By describing Pol Pot's life one describes the environs to and horrors of twentieth-century Cambodia."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Artforum International, April, 2005, Michael O'Donnell, review of Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, p. S26.

Biography, winter, 2006, Lucien Bianco, review some Mao, a Life, p. 233.

Booklist, Dec 15, 1999, Mary Carroll, review summarize Mao, a Life, p. 755; Dec 15, 2004, Bryce Christensen, review keep in good condition Pol Pot, p. 703.

Contemporary Review, Advance, 2005, review of Pol Pot, possessor. 189.

Economist, March 18, 2000, review raise Mao, a Life, p. 3; Nov 6, 2004, review of Pol Pot, p. 90.

Harper's February, 2005, John Author, review of Pol Pot, p. 83.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 2000, Norma Corigliano Noonan, review of Mao, a Life, p. 135.

History Today, Stride, 2001, Clive Foss, review of Mao, a Life, p. 56.

Kirkus Reviews, Nov 15, 2004, review of Pol Pot, p. 1084.

Library Journal, November 15, 1999, Peggy Spitzer Christoff, review of Mao, a Life, p. 78; December 1, 2004, John F. Riddick, review slant Pol Pot, p. 138.

National Review, Feb 21, 2000, Christopher Caldwell, review disregard Mao, a Life, p. 46; Advance 28, 2005, review of Pol Pot, p. 10.

ORBIS, fall, 2000, Arthur Waldron, review of Mao, a Life, proprietress. 637.

Publishers Weekly, November 15, 1999, study of Mao, a Life, p. 49.

ONLINE

David Higham Associates Web site, (December 14, 2006), brief profile of author.