Hampton Sides
Encyclopedia
Hampton Sides is an American
historian and journalist. He is the author of Hellhound on His Trail, Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, and other bestselling works of narrative history
and literary non-fiction.
Sides is editor-at-large for Outside
magazine and has written for such periodicals as National Geographic, The New Yorker
, Esquire
, Men's Journal
, and The Washington Post
. His magazine work, collected in numerous published anthologies, has been twice nominated for National Magazine Awards for feature writing.
(Doubleday, 2001), a World War II
narrative about the rescue of Bataan Death March
survivors, has sold slightly over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into a dozen foreign languages. Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City
, praised Ghost Soldiers as a "Great Escape for the Pacific Theater," and Esquire called it "the greatest World War II story never told." The book was the subject of documentaries on PBS and The History Channel
, and was the basis for the 2005 Miramax film, The Great Raid
. Ghost Soldiers won the 2002 PEN USA
Award for non-fiction and the Discover Award from Barnes & Noble
. The book's success led Sides to create The Ghost Soldiers Endowment Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving the memory of the sacrifices made by Bataan and Corregidor
veterans by funding relevant archives, museums, and memorials.
Blood and Thunder (Doubleday, 2006) focuses on the life and times of controversial frontiersman Kit Carson
, and his role in the conquest of the American West. A critic for the Los Angeles Times
described Blood and Thunder as "stunning, haunting, and lyrical," while The Washington Post called it "riveting, monumental...authoritative and masterfully told." Blood and Thunder was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by Time Magazine, and was selected as that year's best history title by the History Book Club and the Western Writers of America
. Blood and Thunder was the subject of a major documentary on the PBS program American Experience
and is currently under development for the screen.
Hellhound on His Trail (Doubleday 2010) is about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
, and the largest manhunt in American history to capture James Earl Ray
, who pled guilty in 1969 and served the rest of his life in prison. Sides, who is a native of Memphis
, is the first historian to make use of a new digital archive in that city, called the B. Venson Hughes Collection, which contains more than 20,000 documents and photos, many of them rare or never before published. Sides’ research forms much of the basis for PBS’s documentary "Roads to Memphis", which originally aired May 3, 2010, on the award-winning program, American Experience.
Hellhound on His Trail reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Janet Maslin
of The New York Times
called the book "spellbinding...bold, dynamic, unusually vivid," while a reviewer in The New York Times Book Review
suggested that Hellhound "may be the first book on King that owes less to Taylor Branch
than Robert Ludlum
." Time Magazine said Hellhound "unfolds like a mystery—one read not for the ending but for all the missteps and near misses along the way." Critic Laura Miller, writing on Salon.com
, described Hellhound as a "meticulous yet driving account that is in essence a true-crime story and a splendid specimen of the genre." David Garrow
, author of a Pulitzer
-winning biography of King, wrote in The Washington Post
that Hellhound was "a carefully constructed true-crime narrative" and "a memorable and persuasive portrait" that "makes a valuable contribution to the historical record."
Hellhound on His Trail has been optioned by Universal Studios
and is now said to be under development, with a screenplay reportedly written by Black Hawk Down
author Mark Bowden
.
+
Hellhound on His Trail has been optioned by Universal Studios
and is now said to be under development, with a screenplay reportedly written by Black Hawk Down
author Mark Bowden
.
-
Hampton Sides does not mention any of the evidence in the seminal legal event in the case, the 1999 civil trial held in Memphis TN; The King Family VS Lloyd Jowers et ala. In which a jury listened to the evidence presented by over seventy witnesses and then took less than an hour to find that Lloyd Jowers and others including the government of The United States of America were guilty of conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. The New York Times covered the verdict with this article. The full trial transcript is available at the King Center website. Coretta Scott King
Said of the trial “For a quarter of a century, Bill Pepper conducted an independent investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He opened his files to our family, encouraged us to speak with the witnesses, and represented our family in the civil trial against the conspirators. The jury affirmed his findings, providing our family with a long-sought sense of closure and peace, which had been denied by official disinformation and cover-ups. Now the findings of his exhaustive investigation and additional revelations from the trial are presented in the pages of this important book. We recommend it highly to everyone who seeks the truth about Dr. King's assassination" Coretta Scott King
in history from Yale
, Sides lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico
, with his wife Anne Goodwin Sides, a journalist and former NPR
editor, and their three boys, all soccer players. He is a past fellow of Yaddo
, the MacDowell Colony
, and the Japan Society
, and an Edwards Media Fellow at Stanford University
. He is an advisory board member of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. Sides has guest-lectured at Columbia
, Yale, Stanford, Colorado College
, Southern Methodist
, the Autry National Center of the American West
, the American Embassy
in Manila
, Rehoboth Christian School, and the National World War II Museum
, among other venues and institutions. He has appeared as a guest on such national broadcasts as American Experience, the Today show, Book TV
, the History Channel, Fresh Air
, CNN
, CBS Sunday Morning, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Colbert Report, Imus in the Morning
, and
NPR's All Things Considered
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian and journalist. He is the author of Hellhound on His Trail, Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, and other bestselling works of narrative history
Narrative history
Narrative history is the practice of writing history in a story-based form. It can be divided into two subgenres: the traditional narrative and the modern narrative....
and literary non-fiction.
Sides is editor-at-large for Outside
Outside (magazine)
Outside is an American magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue debuted in September 1977 with its mission statement declaring that the publication was "dedicated to covering the people, sports and activities, politics, art, literature, and hardware of the outdoors..."Its founders were...
magazine and has written for such periodicals as National Geographic, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Men's Journal
Men's Journal
Men's Journal is an American men's lifestyle magazine focused on outdoor recreation and comprising editorials on the outdoors, environmental issues, health and fitness, style and fashion, and "gear". It is owned by Jann Wenner of Wenner Media....
, and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. His magazine work, collected in numerous published anthologies, has been twice nominated for National Magazine Awards for feature writing.
Works
Ghost SoldiersGhost Soldiers
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission is a non-fiction book, written by Hampton Sides, about the World War II Allied prison camp raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines. It was first published in 2001....
(Doubleday, 2001), a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
narrative about the rescue of Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
survivors, has sold slightly over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into a dozen foreign languages. Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City
The Devil in the White City
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. The book is based on real characters and events. Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights in 2010.The book is set in Chicago circa...
, praised Ghost Soldiers as a "Great Escape for the Pacific Theater," and Esquire called it "the greatest World War II story never told." The book was the subject of documentaries on PBS and The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
, and was the basis for the 2005 Miramax film, The Great Raid
The Great Raid
The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan, adapted from William Breuer's book of the same name. It tells the story of the January 1945 liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp on the Philippine island of Luzon during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin...
. Ghost Soldiers won the 2002 PEN USA
PEN American Center
PEN American Center , founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators...
Award for non-fiction and the Discover Award from Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
. The book's success led Sides to create The Ghost Soldiers Endowment Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving the memory of the sacrifices made by Bataan and Corregidor
Battle of Corregidor
The Battle for Corregidor was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Philippines. The fall of Bataan on 9 April 1942 ended all organized opposition by the U.S...
veterans by funding relevant archives, museums, and memorials.
Blood and Thunder (Doubleday, 2006) focuses on the life and times of controversial frontiersman Kit Carson
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...
, and his role in the conquest of the American West. A critic for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
described Blood and Thunder as "stunning, haunting, and lyrical," while The Washington Post called it "riveting, monumental...authoritative and masterfully told." Blood and Thunder was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by Time Magazine, and was selected as that year's best history title by the History Book Club and the Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...
. Blood and Thunder was the subject of a major documentary on the PBS program American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
and is currently under development for the screen.
Hellhound on His Trail (Doubleday 2010) is about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, and the largest manhunt in American history to capture James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray was an American criminal convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....
, who pled guilty in 1969 and served the rest of his life in prison. Sides, who is a native of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, is the first historian to make use of a new digital archive in that city, called the B. Venson Hughes Collection, which contains more than 20,000 documents and photos, many of them rare or never before published. Sides’ research forms much of the basis for PBS’s documentary "Roads to Memphis", which originally aired May 3, 2010, on the award-winning program, American Experience.
Hellhound on His Trail reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the book "spellbinding...bold, dynamic, unusually vivid," while a reviewer in The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
suggested that Hellhound "may be the first book on King that owes less to Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
than Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...
." Time Magazine said Hellhound "unfolds like a mystery—one read not for the ending but for all the missteps and near misses along the way." Critic Laura Miller, writing on Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, described Hellhound as a "meticulous yet driving account that is in essence a true-crime story and a splendid specimen of the genre." David Garrow
David Garrow
David J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over...
, author of a Pulitzer
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning biography of King, wrote in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
that Hellhound was "a carefully constructed true-crime narrative" and "a memorable and persuasive portrait" that "makes a valuable contribution to the historical record."
Hellhound on His Trail has been optioned by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and is now said to be under development, with a screenplay reportedly written by Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down is a 2001 American drama war film depicting the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States' effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The film is based on the book of the same name by Mark Bowden, which chronicles the events of the battle. It was...
author Mark Bowden
Mark Bowden
Not to be confused with Mark Bowden, U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia.Mark Robert Bowden is an American writer and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a 1973 graduate of Loyola University Maryland...
.
+
Hellhound on His Trail has been optioned by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and is now said to be under development, with a screenplay reportedly written by Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down is a 2001 American drama war film depicting the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States' effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The film is based on the book of the same name by Mark Bowden, which chronicles the events of the battle. It was...
author Mark Bowden
Mark Bowden
Not to be confused with Mark Bowden, U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia.Mark Robert Bowden is an American writer and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a 1973 graduate of Loyola University Maryland...
.
-
Hampton Sides does not mention any of the evidence in the seminal legal event in the case, the 1999 civil trial held in Memphis TN; The King Family VS Lloyd Jowers et ala. In which a jury listened to the evidence presented by over seventy witnesses and then took less than an hour to find that Lloyd Jowers and others including the government of The United States of America were guilty of conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. The New York Times covered the verdict with this article. The full trial transcript is available at the King Center website. Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
Said of the trial “For a quarter of a century, Bill Pepper conducted an independent investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He opened his files to our family, encouraged us to speak with the witnesses, and represented our family in the civil trial against the conspirators. The jury affirmed his findings, providing our family with a long-sought sense of closure and peace, which had been denied by official disinformation and cover-ups. Now the findings of his exhaustive investigation and additional revelations from the trial are presented in the pages of this important book. We recommend it highly to everyone who seeks the truth about Dr. King's assassination" Coretta Scott King
Appearances
A native of Memphis with a BABachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in history from Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Sides lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, with his wife Anne Goodwin Sides, a journalist and former NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
editor, and their three boys, all soccer players. He is a past fellow of Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
, the MacDowell Colony
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, and the Japan Society
Japan Society (New York)
Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that aims to brings the people of Japan and the United States closer together through understanding, appreciation and cooperation...
, and an Edwards Media Fellow at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. He is an advisory board member of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. Sides has guest-lectured at Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Yale, Stanford, Colorado College
Colorado College
The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...
, Southern Methodist
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
, the Autry National Center of the American West
Autry National Center
The Autry National Center of the American West is an intercultural center and museum in Los Angeles, California that celebrates the diversity and history of the American West through three important institutions: the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West, and the...
, the American Embassy
Embassy of the United States in Manila
The Embassy of the United States of America to the Republic of the Philippines is situated in the Chancery Building of the Manila American Embassy along Roxas Boulevard in Manila...
in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, Rehoboth Christian School, and the National World War II Museum
National World War II Museum
The National World War II Museum, formerly known as the National D-Day Museum, is a museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the corner of Andrew Higgins Boulevard and Magazine Street. It focuses on the contribution made by the United States to victory by the...
, among other venues and institutions. He has appeared as a guest on such national broadcasts as American Experience, the Today show, Book TV
Book TV
Book TV is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2 airing from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 48 hour block of programming is focused on non-fiction books and authors, featuring programs in the format of...
, the History Channel, Fresh Air
Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, CBS Sunday Morning, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Colbert Report, Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning is an American radio show hosted by Don Imus on Cumulus Media Networks , and simulcast for television on Fox Business Network....
, and
NPR's All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
.
External links
- Hampton Sides articles for Outside Magazine
- Interview with NPR's Fresh Air, 10-28
- Doubleday website for Sides's history, Blood and Thunder
- Website for Sides's anthology of journalism, Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier
- Interview at Outside magazine, 10-06
- Review of Blood and Thunder, by N. Scott Momaday
- Interview on Blood and Thunder at the Pritzker Military LibraryPritzker Military LibraryThe Pritzker Military Library is a research library for the study of military history in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2003 by COL James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG to be a non-partisan institution for the study of "the citizen soldier as an essential element for the preservation of...