Thomas Harding | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1968-08-31)31 August 1968 (age 57) |
| Alma mater | Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupations | Author and journalist |
| Writing career | |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
Thomas Harding (born 31 August 1968,London) is anon-fictionauthor,journalist, anddocumentary maker. He holds joint British, American and German citizenship.[1]
Harding was educated atWestminster School in London and then studied anthropology and political science atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge.Alfred Alexander is his great-grandfather.[2] He is the great-nephew ofHanns Alexander.[3] It was only after Alexander's funeral in 2006 that Harding learned what he had done during the Second World War.[4]
Harding and his wife were joint CEOs and co-founders of theOxford Channel, a local television channel operating under aRestricted Service Licence. In 2000, the board voted to sell the station and its operating company toMilestone Group.[5] The station is no longer operational.
In December 2006 Harding became co-owner and publisher of the ShepherdstownObserver inWest Virginia. In 2010 the newspaper won aFreedom of Information Act case before the West Virginia Supreme Court, which resulted in referendum petitions being released to it.[6][7][8][9] While in the US, he helped develop theAmerican Conservation Film Festival (ACFF), in partnership with theNational Conservation Training Center.[10]
In 2010 he convincedJohn Doyle, a delegate in the West Virginia House of Delegates, of the need for a state law protectingreporters' privilege not to reveal their sources;[11] thereporters' shield bill sponsored by Doyle was passed by the West Virginia House and Senate in March 2011.[12] In March 2011 he sold his interest in the paper.
His bookHanns and Rudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz was released in 2013. It won theJewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize[13] and was shortlisted for theCosta Book Award.[14]
His next book,Kadian Journal, was published in 2014; it is about his son, who died in a cycling accident.[15] Doron Weber of theWashington Post described it as "a fine, brave book, a tough-minded, tender-hearted evocation of a beautiful boy, his all-too-short life and the impact of his death on a loving family. Harding has done his boy proud and turned nightmare into art."[16]
The House by the Lake, an account of the five families, including his grandmother, who lived inAlexander Haus, a house in Berlin,[17] was published in 2015.[18] Harding, local residents and his family, saved the building from demolition and established a charity to set it up as a cultural and historical centre.[19] The book was shortlisted for theCosta Book Award for Biography in 2015[14] and longlisted for theOrwell Award in 2016.[20]
Blood on the Page was published in 2018. It is the investigation of the 2006 murder of the London-based authorAllan Chappelow and the man found guilty of the crimeWang Yam. The murder trial was the first in modern British history to be held in secret.[21] It won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction.[22] Harding's next book wasLegacy published in 2019. It tells the story ofJ. Lyons and Co. which was founded and run by the author's family and at one time was the largest catering business in the world.
In 2020, Harding released two books for young readers:Future History: 2050 with the German publisher Jacoby & Stuart, which was shortlisted for the German Youth Literature Award ‘Best Youth Book’ in 2021[23], and a picture-book adaptation of his 2015The House by the Lake.[24] It was nominated for theKate Greenaway Medal for Illustration.[25]
When Harding discovered that his mother's family had made money from plantations worked by enslaved people, he started research into Britain's role in slavery. This led to him publishing, in 2022, the bookWhite Debt onan uprising by enslaved people in Demerara in 1823; theGuardian gave the book a positive review[26] and it was nominated for theMoore Prize for Human Rights Writing.[27]
In 2023, Harding's second picture book was published,The House on the Canal, in collaboration with the illustratorBritta Teckentrup. The book focuses on the history of the Anne Frank house.[28] It has won the Italian Rodari Prize.[29]
Also in 2023, Harding's bookThe Maverick was published, a biography about the Austrian-Jewish publisherGeorge Weidenfeld; it received favorable reviews from theWall Street Journal and theWashington Post.[30][31]
In 2025, Harding's eighth adult non-fiction book was released,The Einstein Vendetta, about the murder of Albert Einstein's relatives in Florence, Italy, during World War Two. It was well-regarded by the Washington Post[32] while the Spectator called it a "Gripping. Finely researched, superbly written and deeply important book"[33].
