Grainger, John D(ownie) 1939-

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GRAINGER, John D(ownie) 1939-

PERSONAL: Born June 17, 1939, in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. Education: Open University, B.A., 1974; University of Birmingham, M.A., 1981, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES: Home—3 Tythe Barn View, School Lane, Middle Liddleton, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 5LN, England.

CAREER: Worked as a teacher, 1963-90; historian and writer, 1990—. Military service: British Army, 1958-60.

WRITINGS:

The Cities of Seleukid Syria, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Seleukos Nikator (biography), Routledge (New York, NY), 1990.

Hellenistic Phoenicia, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor) The Royal Navy in the River Plate, 1806-1807, Ashgate Publishing (Brookfield, VT), 1996.

Cromwell against the Scots: The Last Anglo-Scottish War, 1650-1652, Tuckwell Press (East Lothian, Scotland), 1997.

A Seleukid Prosopography and Gazetteer, E. J. Brill (Boston, MA), 1997.

The League of the Aitolians, E. J. Brill (Boston, MA), 1999.

Aitolian Prosopographical Studies, E. J. Brill (Boston, MA), 2000.

Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis AD 96-99, Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

The Roman War of Antiochos the Great, E. J. Brill (Boston, MA), 2002.

The Maritime Blockade of Germany in the Great War: The Northern Patrol, 1914-1918, Ashgate Publishing (Burlington, VT), 2003.

The Amiens Truce: Britain and Bonaparte, 1801-1803, Boydell Press (Rochester, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including History Today.

SIDELIGHTS: John D. Grainger is a historian with particular expertise in ancient times. Among his works is The Cities of Seleukid Syria, which provides analysis of city planning and geo-political considerations in discussing various aspects of life in ancient Syria. Simon Hornblower, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, called The Cities of Seleukid Syria "an intricate work of reconstruction, based on honest labour and familiarity with the Syrian terrain."

Grainger once told CA: "I am a historian. By that I mean I am a student of human affairs in the past, in all times and circumstances. History is the only subject that includes all human experience. All arts, all sciences, develop through time and can best be understood by that process of development. That is what history is for: to understand our situation. That is what I hope to assist by my studies: an understanding of the human situation. This can clearly best be done by understanding what people actually did, not by what invented characters are made to do, though that has its area of relevance. We must study how people have coped with their situation."