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Jan 1, 1885 — Jan 1, 1936· 51 yrs

UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · FICTION · THRILLER

Alistair Maclean

Also known as: A. MacLean, Alistair Stuart MacLean

40
BOOKS
4.0
AVG RATING (31)
8
READERS

Alistair MacLean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a minister. He spent much of his childhood in Daviot, Scotland. His native language was Scottish Gaelic. During World War II he served with the Royal Navy and was released in 1946. After the war, he studied English at the University of Glasgow, and he began writing short stories for extra income. He graduated in 1953 and became a a school teacher in Rutherglen. In 1954 he won a fiction competition and Collins Publishing asked him for a novel. He submitted HMS Ulysses, drawn from his own war experiences, and it was published in 1955. It was very successful and MacLean became a full-time writer. In the 1960s, he published two novels under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart." His books eventually sold so well that he moved to Switzerland as a tax exile. From 1963–1966, he took a hiatus from writing to run a hotel business in England. He continued to write until his death in 1987, although with his later books his popularity declined.

Strachur, United Kingdom

The vibrating clangour from the four great piston engines set teeth on edge and made an intolerable assault on cringing eardrums.

— from Where Eagles Dare, 1976

Most acclaimed

#2

The Secret Ways

1981

0.0 (0)

Winters are silent in Budapest, silent and dark, and behind some door is some ancient street Harold Jennings, the brilliant British scientist, sat rehearsing a speech denouncing his own country. The communists intended to sue Jennings' speech as the propaganda coup of the decade. The British were equally determined that it should never be delivered. Michael Reynolds, Britain's top agent, was given the impossible assignment -- enter Hungry, kidnap Dr. Jennings and return him to the free world; and this, Reynolds decided, was roughly like trying to find an invisible needle in a burning haystack.

#1

Bear Island

3.5 (2)

"Drawing on the traditions of Anishinaabe storytelling, acclaimed poet Gerald Vizenor illuminates the 1898 battle at Sugar Point in Minnesota in this poem. Fought between the Pillagers of the Leech Lake Reservation (one of the original five clans of the Anishinaabe tribe) and U.S. soldiers, the battle marked a turning point in relations between the government and Native Americans. Although outnumbered by more than three to one, the Pillager fighters won convincingly.". "Weaving together strands of myth, memory, legend, and history, Bear Island lyrically conveys a historical event that has been forgotten not only by the majority culture but also by some Anishinaabe people - bringing back to light a key moment in Minnesota's history with clarity of vision and emotional resonance."--BOOK JACKET.

#3

The Last Frontier

1988

0.0 (0)

It began as a challenge... For Dallas McCabe, America's most famous reporter, no problem was too complex, no injustice too minor. She would do anything for a story. Even trek up a mountain outside Burrowsville, South Carolina, through fourteen miles of dense wilderness. There, in the heart of nowhere, she found back-to-nature survivalist Daniel Masters. Big as a bear, with a lush beard and wild black hair, Daniel looked like a half-feral mountain man as he ordered her off his land. But what had begun as a challenge soon became a test of wills, and Dallas was more determined than ever to leave the mountain with more than just a story ....

Books

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