Jonathan Miles

After a nomadic childhood in America, Canada and the UK, Jonathan Miles took a first class degree from University College, London and his doctorate from Jesus College, University of Oxford. He has written, lectured and broadcast on cultural history all over the world. Reviews of Miles’s The Wreck of the Medusa include ‘thrilling’ (The Guardian - UK), ‘enthralling ... virtuoso’ (The Telegraph - UK), ‘compelling’ (Independent on Sunday - UK), ‘an incredibly gripping book - Miles’s masterful work is a powerful read’ (Irish Times), ‘compulsive, page-turning stuff’ (Bloomberg News) ‘Jonathan Miles, the author of this excellent account, tells the story quickly and well. ... Miles has taken a shipwreck and placed it into its political and historical and artistic context. We can only hope he writes more books as fine and compelling as The Wreck of the Medusa.’(Anthony Brandt - The American Scholar) ‘grippingly recounted - the narrative is brilliantly meted out’ (New York Times).

The Sunday Times (UK) says of his latest book, The Dangerous Otto Katz, ‘This irresistible biography exposes a man by turns showy and shadowy ... Miles conjures the spy-game atmospherics of the era wonderfully. Using recently opened MI5 files, he tracks the intelligence service’s struggle to comprehend the man.’ The Canada Post calls the book ‘a fascinating, fast-moving and frequently witty portrait of a man of such charisma and cunning’. The Mail on Sunday (UK) calls it ‘Jonathan Miles’s riveting new biography’ and comments that ‘a film ought to be made of Katz’s life but who could possibly play such an outlandish character.’ In Metro UK, Alan Chadwick, calls the book ‘Enthralling ... This portrait has all the hallmarks of a thrilling detective story as Katz sets about coordinating his hydra-headed fronts for Soviet propaganda and profit.’ American reviews include ‘unique’ (Los Angeles Times), ‘a heart-pounding account.’ (Cleveland Plain Dealer) ‘Miles’s ‘portrait of Katz is masterful’ (Chicago Sun Times), ‘Here we have biography at its readable best ... Jonathan Miles deserves five cloaks and five daggers for the new information he brings to light.’ (The Washington Times) and ‘an engrossing, endearingly gossipy biography ... fans of thriller writer Alan Furst will relish this book’ ( Wall Street Journal)

The Once Upon a Time World

The Dangerous Otto Katz