David McDowall

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

Early life Born in London in 1945, he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. and St John’s College, Oxford where he studied Islamic History and Modern Middle East Studies under Albert Hourani

Career Royal Artillery, in Britain and Hong Kong, 1965-70; British Council, in Bombay and Baghdad, 1972-77; the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Beirut and Vienna, 1977-79; self-employed thereafter, Oxfam relief worker Lebanon 1982,

On the other hand, it was reviewed favourably by other Middle East specialists:

‘Patrick Seale, writing in The Observer, praised the book as well-researched and recommended it to readers interested in the conflict. (The Observer, 30 July 1989)

‘… both factual and sophisticated… well-written and succinct analytical work…’ Palestinian Professor Ibrahim Abu-Lughod in the Journal of Political and Military Sociology (Journal of Political and Military Sociology, vol. 19 No. 1, Summer 1991)

‘This book should be read by all policy makers.’ Sir Anthony Parsons (Middle East diplomat, foreign policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher), in The Spectator (The Spectator, 5 August 1989, p.30)

Personal life Married to writer Elizabeth Laird, in 1975; two children: Angus, journalist, and William, academic.

Selected publications Middle East

Lebanon: A Conflict of Minorities (Minority Rights Group, 1983). Palestine and Israel: The Uprising and Beyond (IBTauris, 1989), , University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990), Europe and the Arabs: Discord or Symbiosis? (Royal Institute for International Affairs, 1992), A Modern History of the Kurds (IBTauris, London & New York, 1996, 1997 2000 and 4th ed., 2021) .

Britain

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

Children's books

The Palestinians (Franklin Watts, 1986), , winner of The Other Award 1987 The Columbus Project Book (Hodder, 1992), The Spanish Armada (Batsford, 1988).

British landscape guides

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