Andy Simpson

Dr. Andy Simpson has worked in IT in the City for over 30 years, studying the history of World War One (and many other topics) in his spare time since 1990. He was brought up on the North-East coast, by the River Tyne, and educated there until he went to Bedford College (then part of the University of London) to take his first degree, in History. He undertook his Ph.D. on a part-time basis from 1992 to 2001 at UCL under the supervision of Professor David French. Directing Operations is Andy Simpson’s third book. The first, Hot Blood and Cold Steel (Tom Donovan, 1993) was a main choice at the Military Book Club and a popular success. It has been published in three editions. The second, The Evolution of Victory (Tom Donovan, 1995) was a synthesis of revisionist thought on the topic of the BEF on the Western Front as it stood in the mid-90s. Directing Operations is largely based on the author’s Ph.D. thesis. In addition he has contributed to the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and various edited volumes on the Western Front in World War One. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History and of the Western Front Association.-Barnes and Noble