David Buchanan McDowall (born 1945) is a British author specialising in Middle Eastern and British history.

Background

Born in London in 1945, he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.^[1][2] and St John’s College, Oxford where he studied Islamic History and Modern Middle East Studies under Albert Hourani^[3]

Career

Royal Artillery, in Britain and Hong Kong, 1965-70;^[4] British Council, in Bombay and Baghdad, 1972-77; the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA),^[5] Beirut and Vienna, 1977-79; self-employed thereafter, Oxfam^[6] relief worker Lebanon 1982,^[6] full-time research and writing from 1983.

Personal Life

Married to writer Elizabeth Laird,^[7] in 1975; two children: Angus,^[8] journalist, and William,^[9] academic.

Selected Publications

Middle East

• Lebanon: A Conflict of Minorities (Minority Rights Group, 1983), ISBN 0 946 690 07 3.
• Palestine and Israel: The Uprising and Beyond (IBTauris, 1989), ISBN 1 85043 131 0, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990), ISBN 0-520 0602 1^[10]
• Europe and the Arabs: Discord or Symbiosis? (Royal Institute for International Affairs, 1992), ISBN 0 905031 53 9
• A Modern History of the Kurds (IBTauris, London & New York, 1996, 1997 2000 and 4th ed., 2021) ISBN 978 0 7556 0079 3.^{[11][3][12][13][5][14]}

Articles: ‘Clarity of Ambiguity? The Withdrawal Clause of Resolution 242’, International Affairs, vol. 90, no. 6, November 2014^[15] ‘The Two-State Solution: What Europe must do and why’, Open Democracy, November, 2016^[16]

Britain

• An Illustrated History of Britain (Longman, 1989) ISBN 9780582749146
• Britain in Close-up (Longman, 1993), ISBN 9780582064614
• Hampstead Heath (co-authored by Deborah Wolton, Frances Lincoln 2007), ISBN 9780711226531

Children’s Books

• The Palestinians (Franklin Watts, 1986), ISBN 978 0 86313 484 5, winner of The Other Award 1987^[17]
• The Columbus Project Book (Hodder, 1992), ISBN 9780340527801
• The Spanish Armada (Batsford, 1988), ISBN 9780713456714.

British Landscape Guides (self-published)

• Richmond Park: The Walker’s Guide (1996, 2006), ISBN 9780952784746
• Hampstead Heath: The Walker’s Guide co-author Deborah Wolton, (1998, 2021), ISBN 9781838198015
• The Thames from Hampton to Richmond Bridge: The Walker’s Guide (2002), ISBN 9780952784722
• The Thames from Richmond to Putney Bridge: The Walker’s Guide (2005), ISBN 9780952784739
• Windsor Great Park: The Walker’s Guide (2007, 2021), ISBN 9781838198008.
• Bute: A Guide (2010) ISBN 9780952784777
• West Surrey: Walks into History (2013) ISBN 9780952784784