Sir Gerald B. (Gerald Berkeley) Hurst

Born in Bradford in 1877, Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst built a varied public career before and alongside his writing. He was trained in law, became a King's Counsel, later served as a County Court judge, and also sat in Parliament as a Conservative member for Manchester Moss Side.

During the First World War he served with the Manchester Regiment, an experience that fed directly into some of his best-known books, including With Manchesters in the East and The Seventh Manchesters. He also wrote on British history and politics, bringing a clear, argumentative style to subjects such as imperial policy and public opinion.

For audiobook listeners, Hurst is interesting because he wrote from more than one vantage point at once: historian, participant, lawyer, and politician. That mix gives his nonfiction an unusually direct voice, with practical detail and a strong sense of how institutions and events looked from the inside.