My new book, the first solo biography of Tom Watson Jr., The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age, will publish on October 24, 2023. The early reviews are stellar: “In a swift-moving narrative, the authors make clear that Watson was a man of parts, one of the prime shapers of the modern technological world. A readable and revealing work of business and tech history.”―Kirkus
“A nuanced portrait of Watson who went on to unexpectedly make business history.… The authors skillfully weave this profile of a recalcitrant heir together with a chronicle of computing in the 20th century. It’s an informative and entertaining study.”―Publishers Weekly
My biography of Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy (and so much more), for Yale University Press's prestigious Jewish Lives series, Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power, is now available. Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander, NATO, and author of 2034, calls it: “A superb and even-handed treatment of a complex, brilliant, and driven admiral who inspired both awe and loathing across the Navy he fundamentally reshaped.”
A National Review Online Book of the Year: "Wortman captures this very difficult but essential figure in our military history."
Winner John Lyman Book Award Honorable Mention from the North American Society for Oceanic History
Wall Street Journal Notable Book for February: "This latest book...is, like Rickover himself, efficient, blunt and clear. Through its pages, Rickover’s cerebral strengths berth comfortably next to glaring deficiencies in the “plays well with others” category. In “Admiral Hyman Rickover,” Mr. Wortman opens a window into the life of an intellectual titan disdainful of nearly everything except scientific honesty, his adopted nation and the power of the atom."
--The Wall Street Journal
"Marc Wortman's Fascinating 'Admiral Hyman Rickover,'...a remarkable book about a remarkable person."
--Forbes
"Wortman’s account of this feat [development of the nuclear sub], his accessible but detailed description of the science, no matter how one may feel about nuclear power now, is spine-tingling and inspiring. It is simply one of those stories that makes one feel proud to be a human being and proud to be an American."
--Gerald Early, The Common Reader
"Marc Wortman’s fascinating biography, part of the Yale Jewish Lives series, captures the many contradictions of his accomplished subject."
--Jewish Book Council
I will be speaking at in-person and virtual events. Check out Events ahead.
I am an award-winning popular historian and journalist, author of several books and countless articles. My narrative histories include 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War; The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power; and The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta. The Millionaires' Unit inspired the multi-award-winning feature-length documentary streaming on Prime, Apple+, and other services. You can find my articles in many publications, including Vanity Fair, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, and Time. I have also contributed frequently to The Daily Beast on American military and political history and other subjects.
I write often for Vanity Fair. Here's my feature on globe-trotting South American thieves plaguing homes of the wealthy. The Athletic called my "The Case of the Purloined Books" among the best journalism of 2021. And check out a previous article, "Peter Jackson and the Airplane Thief," which grew out of my book The Millionaires' Unit.
I've spoken to audiences around the country and appeared on CNN, BookTV, NPR, History Channel and many other broadcast outlets. I have taught and lectured at Emory, Princeton, Yale, and Quinnipiac Universities, Coe and the Naval War Colleges, and a college program in a maximum security prison.
My books make great gifts. If you are interested in getting a signed copy or bringing me speak to your group, let me know.
Excerpted in Vanity Fair, my previous book, 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, received rave notices and international coverage. The book is available from booksellers everywhere.
“Engrossing… [1941 is] an absorbing world-wide epic set in that pivotal year. … Mr. Wortman’s brisk narrative takes us across nations and oceans with a propulsive vigor that speeds the book along like a good thriller.”
--Wall Street Journal
"Book of the Month" and "MHM Recommends": "1941 is a good read...a different take on a familiar story. A very useful book for those with a serious interest in the period. Recommended."
--Military History Monthly
"...in his admirable work of popular narrative history... Roosevelt’s delicate balance between global strategy and domestic politics is superbly depicted by Wortman."
--Winnepeg (Canada) Free Press
"An engaging and well-researched look behind the scenes of an important historic era. Highly recommended."
--Kirkus (Starred) Reviews
"A fascinating narrative of a domestic conflict presaging America’s plunge into global war."
--Booklist (Starred) Review
"A genuine page-turner. America’s declarations of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy may have been a geopolitical inevitability, but in Wortman’s hands the push and pull of the forces leading to that momentous point hum with the pulsating energy of a cliffhanger."
--World War II Magazine and History.net
"...a great book: plenty of detail, much of it new or told in a refreshing manner."
--BBC History Magazine
Read Vanity Fair's excerpt from 1941: Fighting the Shadow War at: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/philip-johnson-nazi-architect-marc-wortman
"Like the rumble of thunder before a storm, Marc Wortman's 1941: Fighting the Shadow War creates a mesmerizing sense of ominous and terrifying foreboding. This is the fascinating story of the global war that most Americans know almost nothing about: the bitter and even deadly struggle pitting American against American as the United States confronted Hitler and Japan before our country's actual entrance into World War II. There were heroes and villains and, as Wortman depicts so richly up to Pearl Harbor, nobody knew who would win."
—Nathaniel Philbrick, winner of the National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea
"Marc Wortman's 1941: Fighting the Shadow War tells the story of America's plunge into World War II in a way that is smart, suspenseful, and full of surprising historical twists. 1941 has the sweep and intimacy of an epic novel and the pace of a military thriller."
—Debby Applegate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
"The story of Mr Roosevelt's Hidden War on Nazi Germany and support of the British effort in 1940-1941 has been told before, of course, but not I think with such verve and delightful panache as in Marc Wortman's new book. Its strength lies in his blend of characters high and low, from FDR and his highest confidantes to a normal family at Pearl Harbor to the U.S. journalists in Berlin as they saw war advancing across Europe and, then, towards America itself. It's a smart book, and a great read."
—Paul Kennedy, J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University, and author of The Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War
For individual orders, support your local bookstores. Go to www.bookweb.org or www.indiebound.org to find bookstores in your area. Many local bookstores provide an option to buy from them online.
You may also purchase his titles online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Books-a-Million.com/BAM, Hudson Booksellers.com and Powells.com.
“A nuanced portrait of Watson who went on to unexpectedly make business history.… The authors skillfully weave this profile of a recalcitrant heir together with a chronicle of computing in the 20th century. It’s an informative and entertaining study.”―Publishers Weekly
My biography of Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy (and so much more), for Yale University Press's prestigious Jewish Lives series, Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power, is now available. Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander, NATO, and author of 2034, calls it: “A superb and even-handed treatment of a complex, brilliant, and driven admiral who inspired both awe and loathing across the Navy he fundamentally reshaped.”
A National Review Online Book of the Year: "Wortman captures this very difficult but essential figure in our military history."
Winner John Lyman Book Award Honorable Mention from the North American Society for Oceanic History
Wall Street Journal Notable Book for February: "This latest book...is, like Rickover himself, efficient, blunt and clear. Through its pages, Rickover’s cerebral strengths berth comfortably next to glaring deficiencies in the “plays well with others” category. In “Admiral Hyman Rickover,” Mr. Wortman opens a window into the life of an intellectual titan disdainful of nearly everything except scientific honesty, his adopted nation and the power of the atom."
--The Wall Street Journal
"Marc Wortman's Fascinating 'Admiral Hyman Rickover,'...a remarkable book about a remarkable person."
--Forbes
"Wortman’s account of this feat [development of the nuclear sub], his accessible but detailed description of the science, no matter how one may feel about nuclear power now, is spine-tingling and inspiring. It is simply one of those stories that makes one feel proud to be a human being and proud to be an American."
--Gerald Early, The Common Reader
"Marc Wortman’s fascinating biography, part of the Yale Jewish Lives series, captures the many contradictions of his accomplished subject."
--Jewish Book Council
I will be speaking at in-person and virtual events. Check out Events ahead.
I am an award-winning popular historian and journalist, author of several books and countless articles. My narrative histories include 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War; The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power; and The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta. The Millionaires' Unit inspired the multi-award-winning feature-length documentary streaming on Prime, Apple+, and other services. You can find my articles in many publications, including Vanity Fair, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, and Time. I have also contributed frequently to The Daily Beast on American military and political history and other subjects.
I write often for Vanity Fair. Here's my feature on globe-trotting South American thieves plaguing homes of the wealthy. The Athletic called my "The Case of the Purloined Books" among the best journalism of 2021. And check out a previous article, "Peter Jackson and the Airplane Thief," which grew out of my book The Millionaires' Unit.
I've spoken to audiences around the country and appeared on CNN, BookTV, NPR, History Channel and many other broadcast outlets. I have taught and lectured at Emory, Princeton, Yale, and Quinnipiac Universities, Coe and the Naval War Colleges, and a college program in a maximum security prison.
My books make great gifts. If you are interested in getting a signed copy or bringing me speak to your group, let me know.
Excerpted in Vanity Fair, my previous book, 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, received rave notices and international coverage. The book is available from booksellers everywhere.
“Engrossing… [1941 is] an absorbing world-wide epic set in that pivotal year. … Mr. Wortman’s brisk narrative takes us across nations and oceans with a propulsive vigor that speeds the book along like a good thriller.”
--Wall Street Journal
"Book of the Month" and "MHM Recommends": "1941 is a good read...a different take on a familiar story. A very useful book for those with a serious interest in the period. Recommended."
--Military History Monthly
"...in his admirable work of popular narrative history... Roosevelt’s delicate balance between global strategy and domestic politics is superbly depicted by Wortman."
--Winnepeg (Canada) Free Press
"An engaging and well-researched look behind the scenes of an important historic era. Highly recommended."
--Kirkus (Starred) Reviews
"A fascinating narrative of a domestic conflict presaging America’s plunge into global war."
--Booklist (Starred) Review
"A genuine page-turner. America’s declarations of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy may have been a geopolitical inevitability, but in Wortman’s hands the push and pull of the forces leading to that momentous point hum with the pulsating energy of a cliffhanger."
--World War II Magazine and History.net
"...a great book: plenty of detail, much of it new or told in a refreshing manner."
--BBC History Magazine
Read Vanity Fair's excerpt from 1941: Fighting the Shadow War at: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/philip-johnson-nazi-architect-marc-wortman
"Like the rumble of thunder before a storm, Marc Wortman's 1941: Fighting the Shadow War creates a mesmerizing sense of ominous and terrifying foreboding. This is the fascinating story of the global war that most Americans know almost nothing about: the bitter and even deadly struggle pitting American against American as the United States confronted Hitler and Japan before our country's actual entrance into World War II. There were heroes and villains and, as Wortman depicts so richly up to Pearl Harbor, nobody knew who would win."
—Nathaniel Philbrick, winner of the National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea
"Marc Wortman's 1941: Fighting the Shadow War tells the story of America's plunge into World War II in a way that is smart, suspenseful, and full of surprising historical twists. 1941 has the sweep and intimacy of an epic novel and the pace of a military thriller."
—Debby Applegate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
"The story of Mr Roosevelt's Hidden War on Nazi Germany and support of the British effort in 1940-1941 has been told before, of course, but not I think with such verve and delightful panache as in Marc Wortman's new book. Its strength lies in his blend of characters high and low, from FDR and his highest confidantes to a normal family at Pearl Harbor to the U.S. journalists in Berlin as they saw war advancing across Europe and, then, towards America itself. It's a smart book, and a great read."
—Paul Kennedy, J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University, and author of The Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War
For individual orders, support your local bookstores. Go to www.bookweb.org or www.indiebound.org to find bookstores in your area. Many local bookstores provide an option to buy from them online.
You may also purchase his titles online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Books-a-Million.com/BAM, Hudson Booksellers.com and Powells.com.
The Millionaires' Unit
They had it all and risked all they had to fight and win a distant war in Europe. A story of innovation, sacrifice, heroism and leadership during the First World War.
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The Bonfire
A city made by the Civil War and destroyed by its flames, Atlanta was full of paradoxes and secrets revealed in this tale of the greatest city siege in American history.
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1941: Fighting the Shadow War
An exploration of the contentious and portentous entry of America into World War II, as the nation battled the Axis long before Pearl Harbor while at home it debated its role in a world at war.
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