Tom Clancy Biography
Twenty years ago Tom Clancy was an obscure Maryland insurance broker with a
passion for naval history and only a letter to the editor and a brief article on
the MX missile to his credit. Years before, he had been an English major at
Baltimore’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His
first effort, The Hunt for Red October sold
briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times
bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn” and
“non-put-downable.” Since then Clancy has established himself as an
undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate
plotting, and razor-sharp suspense.
Clancy’s next novel, Red Storm Rising, took on U.S./Soviet tension
by providing a realistic modern war scenario arising from a conventional Soviet
attack on NATO. Other bestsellers followed: Patriot Games dealt with
terrorism; Cardinal of the Kremlin focused on spies, secrets and the
strategic defense initiative; Clear and Present Danger asked what if
there was a real war on drugs; The Sum of All Fears centered around
post-Cold War attempts to rekindle U.S./Soviet animosity; Without Remorse
took on the rising U.S. drug trade and Vietnam War era POW’s; and Debt of
Honor explored the hazards of American/Japanese economic competition, the
vulnerability of America’s financial system, and the dangers of military
downsizing. In light of recent events, Debt of Honor demonstrated once
and for all Clancy’s cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events. The
novel ends with a suicide attack against the U.S. Capitol Building by a
terrorist flying a 747 out of Dulles airport.
Clancy’s uninterrupted string of best sellers continued with Executive
Orders, which combined the threat of biological and conventional terrorism
with the instability of the Persian Gulf region; Rainbow Six, which
explored the dual threats posed by former Soviet intelligence operatives willing
to sell themselves to the highest bidder, and genetically engineering bio
weapons; and, most recently, The Bear and The Dragon, which posited a
limited war between China, the U.S. and Russia.
Clancy’s nonfiction works include Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing,
Marine, and Airborne—a series of guided tours
of America’s warfighting assets. He has also written three books in an
extraordinary nonfiction series that looks deep into the art of war through the
eyes of America’s outstanding military commanders. Into The Storm: A Study
in Command, written with armor and infantry General Fred Franks Jr., and Every
Man a Tiger, written with Air Force General Chuck Horner, won unanimous
praise for their detailed exploration of traditional war-fighting from the
ground and from the air. The third book in the Commanders series, Shadow
Warriors: Inside the Special Forces, written with General Carl Stiner,
former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, tells the story of the
soldiers whose training, resourcefulness, and creativity make them capable of
jobs that few other soldiers can handle, in situations where traditional arms
and movement don’t apply.
This biography was last updated on 07/06/2010.
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