The Works of David Howarth

Waldstein: 1951. The clandestine operation for smuggling anything from guns and explosives to messages and fugitives between Norway and the Shetland. One of the least known and most fascinating pages from WWII. DH was second-in-command at the Shetland base and gathered the material for this book straight from the Norwegian fishermen who did the job.

Waldstein: 1953. An engaging mystery with element of smuggling and spy intrigue, evocatively set in the north of Scotland. 1st novel. Apparently reprinted in 1954 as Thieves' Hole.

Waldstein: 1953. 2nd and last novel.

Waldstein: 1955. The incredible adventure of Jan Baalsrud who survived for two months beyond the Arctic circle in the spring of 1943, and the vast rescue effort that was organised for him. Also told in Chapter 13 of The Shetland Bus (#1), but only in outline.

Waldstein: 1957. Eight biographical essays on courageous people, six individuals (Augustine Courtauld, Andy Lassen, Leif Larsen, Tenzing Norgay, Albert Schweitzer, Freddie Spencer Chapman) and two groups (test pilots, Londoners during the Blitz). Wonderful introduction which explains what courage is and why these very people were chosen.

Waldstein: 1957. Battle of wits and wills with the Nazis in northeast Greenland, another obscure but exciting page from WWII.

Waldstein: 1959. A famous battle from a purely human point of view. Cf. Waterloo (#11).

Waldstein: 1961. A modern exodus epic in Africa.

Waldstein: 1964. A biography of the founder of Saudi Arabia.

Waldstein: 1966. Also published as Panama: 400 Years of Dreams and Cruelty, rather an accurate title. Typically perceptive and poetic, sensible yet exciting, exploration of the crowded history of the Isthmus: from Columbus, Balboa, Drake and Morgan all the way to Humboldt, Lesseps, Bunau-Varilla and Roosevelt.

Waldstein: 1968. Another famous battle from a purely human point of view. Confusion and carnage.

Waldstein: 1969. One of Howarth's finest books in a bibliography of uncommon consistency. Incredibly vivid account of the battle, the blockade before that won it, and the storm after it that - together with Nelson's death - all but negated it. As humane and compassionate, and far less pro-British than you might expect, as this kind of history is possible to be written.

Waldstein: 1974. Concise, erudite and compelling history of 15 centuries of British sea power. Reprinted in low-quality paperback as A Brief History of British Sea Power, 2003.

Waldstein: 1976. Entrancing account of the Greek War of Indepencence, especially many of the wacky fellows, Greeks and foreigners, who played prominent roles in it.

Waldstein: 1977.

Waldstein: 1977.

Waldstein: 1978. The Seafarers series.

Waldstein: 1979. The Seafarers series.

Waldstein: 1981. Superb account of the Armada debacle, unusually but brilliantly told mostly from a Spanish point of view.

Waldstein: 1981. From the Armada to Midway, with the Nile, Trafalgar, Navarino, Tsushima, Bismarck and a few others in between, covered in separate chapters with all of Howarth's authoritative but compassionate touch. A good deal of connecting narrative on the development on shipbuilding, seamanship and weaponry. Lavishly illustrated with reproductions of contemporary paintings, photos and maps.

Waldstein: 1983. Last non-fiction work as sole author. Second biography of a place. Even more poignant, tragic in fact, than the first (#10).

Waldstein: 1986. Autobiography. Last book as a sole author, published at the age of 74.

Waldstein: 1986. In collaboration with his son, Stephen Howarth. Lavishly illustrated history of a famous shipping line.

Waldstein: 1988. In collaboration with his son, Stephen Howarth. Full-scale biography of the legendary admiral. Sensitive, perceptive and supremely readable.