BOOKS
Stephen Taylor’s stories are true. They are also diverse. From recounting the fate of 18th century castaways lost on an African shore to the exploits of the real-life Jack Aubrey, from the last whites to stay on in post-colonial Africa to the life of a hostess at the heart of Regency society, he has dipped into many archives and records while exploring his belief that history can be every bit as exciting as fiction.
DEFIANCE
“An eccentric life, wonderfully told. Lady Anne Barnard was a brave traveller, artist and observer. Stephen Taylor brings her brilliantly out of the shadows.”
– Stella Tillyard
COMMANDER
“Fast-paced, hugely entertaining biography … A swashbuckling adventure filled to the brim with derring-do.”
– The Daily Telegraph
STORM & CONQUEST
“A triumph, a brilliant evocation of passages to and from India, built around Taylor’s impressive ability to paint vivid pictures of shipboard life complete with intrigues, dramas, romances and tragedies. An extraordinary cast of (mostly doomed) characters float across the pages … This is that rarest of works: a ripping yarn founded on original research … We can taste the salt, feel the damp, and smell the fear in a book that represents popular maritime history at its very best.”
– Huw Bowen, The Guardian
THE CALIBAN SHORE
“A wonderful book, hugely satisfying on many levels – as a survival-and-ordeal chronicle, as social history, as anthropology, and as an early foray into the exotic, but most of all as an adventure.”
– Paul Theroux
LIVINGSTONE’S TRIBE
“An extraordinarily passionate and personal journey into Africa’s past … The most enthralling account out of Africa for years.”
– The Daily Mail
SHAKA’S CHILDREN
“A timely and necessary book. Stephen Taylor has been to the necessary sources. His writing is solid, its pace steady. He also recognizes that another account of the forging of the Zulu nation would be valueless without an appraisal of the Zulu role in the new South Africa. The one he offers is very well done and may be his most worthwhile contribution.”
– Noel Mostert, The New York Times
THE MIGHTY NIMROD
“There is material here for a ripping biography; and Stephen Taylor’s life of Selous is indeed a spiffing yarn … He has also written a comprehensive, witty and perceptive book.”
– The Independent