Neal Ascherson

Charles Neal Ascherson ( born October 5, 1932 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish journalist and writer.

Ascherson went to Eton to school and studied history at King's College (Cambridge). The historian Eric Hobsbawm described him as " perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had. I actually have taught him not much, I have made it easy. "

After graduating Ascherson wrote first for the Manchester Guardian and later for The Scotsman (1959-1960), The Observer (1960-1990) and The Independent on Sunday ( 1990-1998 ). He wrote screenplays for the documentary series The World at War (1973-1974) and the TV series The Cold War ( 1998). He also writes regularly for the London Review of Books.

Ascherson is an expert on Poland and the Eastern Bloc.

Since 2008, Ascherson is a visiting professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

• The King Incorporated in 1963, ISBN 1-86207-290-6.
• The Polish August: the self- limiting revolution 1981, ISBN 0-670-56305-6.
• The Book of Lech Walesa in 1982, ISBN 0-671-45684-9.
• The Spanish Civil War ( Granada Television serial script, 1983)
• The Nazi Legacy 1984, ISBN 0-03-069303-9. with Magnus Linklater and Isabel Hilton
• The Struggles For Poland, 1987, ISBN 0-7181-2812-5.
• Games With Shadows, 1988, ISBN 0-09-173019-8.
• Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and Barbarism 1995, ISBN 0-8090-3043-8, German Black Sea, Berlin 1996. .
• Stone Voices: the search for Scotland 2002, ISBN 0-8090-8491-0.