James D. Hornfischer is a highly respected nonfiction author, with a particular focus on history and military history. Growing up, Hornfischer had a lifelong interest in the Pacific War during the Second World War, which would eventually become the central theme of his writing career. His expertise in this area has led to appearances on numerous television programs, including "BookTV" on C-Span, "War Stories with Oliver North" on Fox News, and The History Channel.
In addition to his appearances on television, Hornfischer is a frequent speaker on the subject of the war in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy, and the experience of America's sailors in World War II. He has spoken to a wide range of audiences, including veterans organizations, youth and civic groups, and professional naval organizations. Hornfischer took great pride in the fact that each of his books was placed on the Chief of Naval Operations’ Required Reading List.
James D. Hornfischer was born in Massachusetts and graduated with high honors in German from Colgate University in 1987. He received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2001. Hornfischer was a member of the Naval Order of the United States and the Navy League, and was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as an “Admiral in the Texas Navy.” He was also a book editor at one time and president of the literary agency Hornfischer Literary Management, located in Austin, Texas, where he lived with his wife and their three children. Hornfischer passed away on June 2, 2021 in Austin Texas after a lengthy illness. He was fifty-five years old at the time of his death.
Hornfischer's writing has been highly praised, with reviewers rating him as one of the most commanding naval historians writing today. He is the recipient of several awards, including the 2018 Samuel Eliot Morison Award and the Navy League’s 2017 Commodore John Barry Book Award. His books, including "The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944–1945", "Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal", "Ship of Ghosts", and "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors", have all been selections of the Navy Professional Reading program, managed by the office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV).
Hornfischer is also a regular contributor for the Wall Street Journal and has written for Smithsonian, Naval History, Naval Institute Proceedings, and other periodicals. He has lectured at the U.S. Naval Academy, Marine Corps University at Quantico, the National WWII Museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War, and other venues. Hornfischer's motivation to write about the U.S. military reaches back to his childhood, from his explorations of the school library's 940.54 Dewey Decimal section, building Monogram and Revell model ships and aircraft, watching "Black Sheep Squadron" on NBC, and absorbing the epic intonations of Laurence Olivier in "The World at War" on PBS.