Downing, David 1946-

views updated

Downing, David 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born August 9, 1946, in England; married.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Guildford, England.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

Future Rock, Panther (St. Albans, England), 1976.

(With Gary Herman) Clint Eastwood, All-American Anti-Hero: A Critical Appraisal of the World's Top Box Office Star and His Films, Omnibus Press (New York, NY), 1977.

The Devil's Virtuosos: German Generals at War, 1940-5, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1977.

(With Gary Herman) War without End, Peace without Hope: Thirty Years of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, New English Library (London, England), 1978.

The Moscow Option: An Alternative Second World War, New English Library (London, England), 1979, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1980.

An Atlas of Territorial and Border Disputes, New English Library (London, England), 1980.

(With Gary Herman) Jane Fonda, All American Anti-Heroine, Quick Fox (New York, NY), 1980.

Robert Redford, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1982.

Charles Bronson, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Russian Revolution 1985: A Contemporary Fable, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1983.

Jack Nicholson: A Biography, Stein & Day (New York, NY), 1984.

Marlon Brando, Stein & Day (New York, NY), 1984.

Robert Mitchum, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1985.

A Dreamer of Pictures: Neil Young, the Man and His Music, Da Capo Press (New York, NY), 1995.

The Best of Enemies: England v. Germany, a Century of Football Rivalry, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2000.

FICTION

The Red Eagles, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1987.

Zoo Station (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Silesian Station (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 2008.

NONFICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS

The Great Depression, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2001.

Yasser Arafat, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Benito Mussolini, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

John F. Kennedy, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Joseph Stalin, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Mohandas Gandhi, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Capitalism, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003, revised edition, 2008.

Che Guevara, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003.

Communism, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003, revised edition, 2008.

Democracy, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003, revised edition, 2008.

Fascism, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003, revised edition, 2008.

Malcolm X, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2003.

Witness to History: The War in Iraq, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Afghanistan, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Africa: Postcolonial Conflict, Raintree (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Apartheid in South Africa, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Conflict India vs. Pakistan, Raintree (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Iraq: 1968-2003, Raintree (Chicago, IL), 2004.

The War on Terrorism: The First Year, Raintree (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Toward Genocide, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Aftermath and Remembrance, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Fighting Back, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

The Making of the Middle East, Raintree (Chicago, IL), 2006.

The Nazi Death Camps, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Origins of the Holocaust, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Persecution and Emigration, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Conflicts of the Middle East, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2006.

Geography and Resources of the Middle East, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2007.

Global Business: Who Benefits?, Heinemann Library (Chicago, IL), 2007.

History of the Middle East, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2007.

The War on Terror, Arcturus Publishing (North Mankato, MN), 2007.

Governments and Leaders of the Middle East, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

British writer David Downing has a wide variety of interests and they are represented by the diversity of his work. Downing's passion for history and politics has resulted in numerous nonfiction works, as well as political thrillers and alternative histories on the fiction side. He has also written about sports and about iconic figures in both Hollywood and the music industry.

The Moscow Option: An Alternative Second World War, first published in 1979, is an alternate history that reimagines World War Two. Downing's grasp of the political and military choices that Germany made during the war enable him to posit what might have occurred had Hitler's forces actually succeeded in taking Moscow in 1941. The book imagines that the Germans took Moscow in September of that year, and that the Soviet Union falls to the Third Reich as a result. The Russian forces continue to fight against the Germans, but the act of winning Moscow provides a boon to Hitler and he begins to take other chances, moving forces more aggressively into Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Soon it appears that the Allies are doomed, making for a chilling look at another possible outcome of the war.

In a war story of another kind, The Best of Enemies: England v. Germany, a Century of Football Rivalry, Downing offers readers and fans a history of the legendary rivalry between the English and the German football (soccer) teams through the years. Despite this ongoing battle, the German national team has far more luck in the international playing field, often winning World Cups and European Championships, while the English national team is more frequently trounced. Until, that is, June 1996, when the English team prevailed. Henry Sheen, writing for the New Statesman, found Downing's book "not especially illuminating," but added that "what he does capture is the broad shape of England's decline and fall as a football team throughout the century."

Downing has written a number of books for younger readers, aimed at familiarizing them with various political concepts and with systems of government around the world. These works include Capitalism, Communism, Democracy, Fascism, Origins of the Holocaust, Apartheid in South Africa, and The Making of the Middle East. Each book is designed to introduce readers to the topic in such a way that it fits in with an overall view of the world. Ilene Cooper, reviewing Democracy for Booklist, remarked that the volume "will give students a solid foundation for understanding both history and government." Reviewing Apartheid in South Africa for Booklist, Hazel Rochman felt that "this dense volume is an excellent narrative overview of the apartheid struggle."

Zoo Station, which was published in 2007, starts off a brand new series of spy novels set in Berlin during World War II. The book features John Russell, an Anglo-American journalist who has spent the previous decade in Berlin because his ex-wife is German and their son lives with her. By 1939 John is being extremely cautious about what assignments he takes, primarily writing relatively urbane human interest stories for the British and American papers for which he is a freelancer and avoiding anything controversial that might result in his being asked to leave the country. With war on the horizon, he knows that he may no longer have a choice. He can see what is going on in Germany: Jews are being persecuted, and John's own son is part of the Hitler Youth. Even his girlfriend, a German actress, is earning most of her money appearing in Nazi propaganda films. John finds himself with new opportunities when an old friend gives him the chance to write pro-Nazi articles for the Soviet newspaper Pravda. But then the American journalist living next door dies from a supposed suicide, and John is suspicious, since he knows his neighbor was investigating a potentially explosive story regarding Hitler's government and the mysterious death of a number of disabled children. Suddenly, John finds himself questioning his actions, and whether he can merely remain the journalist who observes and chronicles life around him, or whether he must take action where he sees it is needed.

Stephen Miller, reviewing Zoo Station for January Magazine, found the book to be "a deft exploration of the moral gyrations that supposedly passive ‘observers’ must negotiate when faced with siding with one form of evil over another." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews dubbed Downing's effort a "smooth, scary wartime thriller drenched in period atmosphere." In BookPage, Bruce Tierney noted that the book's "clever denouement will have readers clamoring for a sequel." St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic Harry Levins found some parts of the book needlessly over-detailed, but he ultimately concluded that "the details add up to a finely drawn portrait of the capital of a nation marching in step toward disaster as the Nazi rulers count cadence."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of Democracy, p. 878; January 1, 2005, Hazel Rochman, review of Apartheid in South Africa, p. 837; October 15, 2005, Hazel Rochman, review of Origins of the Holocaust, p. 61; April 1, 2007, Michael Gannon, review of Zoo Station, p. 26.

Film Quarterly, summer, 1983, Ernest Callenbach, review of Robert Redford.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2007, review of Zoo Station.

Library Journal, January 15, 1980, George H. Siehl, review of The Moscow Option: An Alternative Second World War, p. 224; July, 1984, review of Jack Nicholson: A Biography, p. 1344.

Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1984, review of Jack Nicholson, p. 6; October 21, 1984, Michael Leyland, review of Russian Revolution 1985: A Contemporary Fable, p. 10.

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August, 1989, Algis Budrys, review of The Red Eagles, p. 26.

New Statesman, October 9, 2000, Henry Sheen, "Two Fat Drunks," review of The Best of Enemies: England v. Germany, a Century of Football Rivalry, p. 52.

New York Times Book Review, July 1, 1984, Foster Hirsch, review of Jack Nicholson, p. 13; November 4, 1984, Sylviane Gold, review of Marlon Brando, p. 13.

People, June 27, 1983, review of Robert Redford, p. 14.

Publishers Weekly, June 24, 1983, review of Charles Bronson, p. 49; April 10, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Red Eagles, p. 82.

School Librarian, winter, 2001, review of The Great Depression; summer, 2004, "Information Material"; spring, 2005, Alison A. Smith, review of The War in Iraq; summer, 2006, Andrew White, review of The Making of the Middle East.

School Library Journal, February, 2003, Jonathan Betz-Zall, review of Capitalism, p. 158; February, 2003, Mary Mueller, review of Fascism, p. 158; March, 2004, Vicki Reutter, review of Africa: Postcolonial Conflict, p. 229; December, 2004, review of Afghanistan, p. 155; March, 2006, Rachel Kamin, review of Aftermath and Remembrance, p. 239; April, 2006, Kathleen E. Gruver, review of The Making of the Middle East, p. 154.

Variety, May 18, 1983, David Golding, review of Robert Redford, p. 29; November 7, 1984, review of Marlon Brando, p. 108.