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Ben Macintyre is an author, historian and columnist writing for The Times newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies. In July 2006, Macintyre wrote an article in The Times entitled "How wiki-wiki can get sticky", criticising the limitations of Wikipedia.^[1] He cited the self-regulation system as inadequate when literally "anyone" could add supposed "facts" to Wikipedia, despite the fact that they could be "nutters." However, he also clearly states that whilst Wikipedia "should always be taken with a pinch of salt", these problems ought to disappear as more people "contribute and revise" articles, putting a positive slant on the project.

Author

Macintyre is the author of a book on the gentleman criminal Adam Worth, The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief.^[2] He also wrote The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan,^[3] and a book on the real-life double agent of Germany and England during the Second World War, Eddie Chapman, titled Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy.^[4]

Bibliography

• Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992. ISBN 978-0374157593.^[5]
• The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. ISBN 978-0374218997.^[2]
• A Foreign Field. HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 978-0002571227.^[6]
• The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War One. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. ISBN 978-0374129859.^[7]
• The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. ISBN 978-0374201784.^[3]
• Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-0747587941.^[4]
• The Last Word: Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1408803332.^[8]
• Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0747598688.^[9]

References

External links

• "Ben Macintyre, columnist", is Macintyre's op-ed page at The Times.