Walter R. Borneman

Walter R. Borneman writes about American military and political history. His most recent book, Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor and the Fate of the Many Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona, was published in May 2019 by Little, Brown. The Pearl Harbor story has never been told through the eyes of the seventy-eight brothers—members of the same families—serving together aboard the battleship that fateful day. Borneman won the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize in Naval Literature for The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King--The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea (Little, Brown, 2012). A national bestseller, The Admirals tells the story of the only four men in American history to achieve the rank of fleet admiral. Together they transformed the American navy with aircraft carriers and submarines and won World War II. Borneman's other titles include MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific (Little, Brown, 2016), a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History; American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution (Little, Brown, 2014); Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America (Random House, 2008), which won the Tennessee History Book Award and the Colorado Book Award for Biography; and 1812: The War That Forged a Nation (HarperCollins, 2004). His commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and on FoxNews.com. He lives in Colorado and has spent many days climbing its mountains. QUOTE: My overriding goal in writing history has been to get the facts straight and then present them in a readable fashion. I am convinced that knowing history is not just about appreciating the past, but also about understanding the present and planning for the future.