Ian Hawkins
Ian Hawkins (born, 7 July 1939), is a British war historian, and author and editor of factual books about World War II. He has written five books.
Early years
Ian Hawkins became interested in the history of the Second World War as a boy growing up in East Anglia; his father, a Royal Navy destroyer commander, and an uncle, a Royal Air Force squadron leader, were both killed in action. A former civil engineer, he sustained very severe head injuries in an attack in Saudi Arabia in 1976 and was left paralysed down one side of his body. He now uses a wheelchair as a result of his paralysis.
Style of Writing
Ian's books follow an unusual style in that they are made up in part of quotes from people who actually took part in the action. Obviously this is a very time consuming way of writing a book and "The Munster Raid" took over thirty years to compile.
A fan of Ian's books is Len Deighton who has written the foreword to several of them.
Selected bibliography
- B-17s over Berlin: Personal Stories from the 95th Bomb Group (H). Brassey's. 1990. ISBN 008040569X. Also, published as Courage*honor*victory
- Destroyer: an Anthology of First-hand Accounts of the War at Sea, 1939-1945. Conway Maritime Press. 2003. ISBN 0851779476. OCLC 54664339.
- Münster: the Way It Was. Robinson Typographics. 1984. ISBN 0918837006. OCLC 11650377. edited by Richard H. Perry
- The Munster Raid: Before and After. FNP Military Division. 1999. ISBN 0917678494. OCLC 43562170.
- The Munster Raid: Bloody Skies over Germany. AERO. 1990. ISBN 0830650016. OCLC 20057559.
- 20th Century Crusaders: 392nd Bombardment Group (H), January 1943-September 1945: True Tales of the Air War over Europe Told by Those who Lived Them. Turner Pub. 1997. ISBN 1563113694. OCLC 41439247. with Bill and Marge Braddock, editors.