Doug Stanton

Doug Stanton is a journalist, lecturer, screenwriter, and author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm’s Way (2001) and Horse Soldiers (2009.)

Stanton has appeared on numerous TV and radio outlets, including NBC’s “Today,” CNN, Imus In The Morning, Discovery, A&E, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and NBC’s Nightly News, and has been covered extensively in prominent publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times.

Drawing on his experiences working in the U.S. and overseas, and with contacts in various branches of the U.S. military and government, Stanton lectures nationally to corporate and civic groups, libraries, writing & book clubs, and universities about current events, international affairs, politics, and writing.

Stanton says that he writes and talks about “existential moments when ordinary men and women are forced to adapt and make extraordinary decisions at the least likely moment. That’s when change happens, whether we like it or not.” He has written on travel, sport, entertainment, and history, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Slate, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Post.

Horse Soldiers appeared on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, and was on bestseller lists in the New York Times USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, and IndieBound. It was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times and was chosen as a “Best Book” by Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com. The film adaptation of Horse Soldiers, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, will be released by Warner Bros. in 2018.

Major General Geoffrey Lambert (Ret), US Army Special Forces Command, explained that Stanton had probably received more access to the Special Forces community than any author writing about this post-9/11 conflict. Lambert also said that Horse Soldiers had grabbed the attention of military planners.

In Harm’s Way spent more than six months on the New York Times bestseller list, and became required reading on the US Navy’s “core values” reading list for officers. is used in high school history classes throughout the country and is a book club pick appealing to a wide range of readers, men, women, and young adults.

In July 2001, the US Department of Navy, joining with the US Congress, exonerated the ship’s court-martialed captain, Charles Butler McVay. This was a historic reversal of fortune for the survivors of the worst disaster at sea in naval history. In Harm’s Way was credited by those close to the story with helping in this exoneration.

Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he graduated with coursework in both fiction and poetry workshops. He lives in Michigan with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their three children.