Ian Fleming: The Complete Man
by Nicholas Shakespeare
Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, by biographer and novelist Nicholas Shakespeare, is now out in the US. It’s the first authorized biography of Fleming since 1966, lengthy (800+ pages) but very readable. If you’re curious about the man who created James Bond, this is the biography to read about him. Fleming served in naval intelligence during World War II, lived life to the full on all fronts, and died at age 56 of a heart attack.
Recommendations from our site
“A lot more has come out about what Fleming did during World War II… Shakespeare’s thrust in the book is that even if Fleming had never written James Bond, he would still have been a fascinating, interesting and important character because of what he did during the war…What is fascinating about Fleming is that James Bond was only the last few years of his life. He died in his 50s of a series of heart attacks. He had done a lot before he started writing the books—it’s just that those books that he wrote between 1953 and when he died, in 1964, is, for most people, what we remember him for.” Read more...
Charlie Higson, Thriller and Crime Writer
“Another is Nicholas Shakespeare’s biography of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books. Ian Fleming: The Complete Man is an authorized biography and offsets some of the more negative accounts of his life as a train wreck which ended early (he died of heart disease at age 56)…Both my parents were Dutch and I suppose like others around the world we half-believed that James Bond/Ian Fleming was a typical mid-20th century Englishman. With this book, we find out a bit more what Fleming was actually like.” Read more...
Notable Nonfiction of Fall 2023
Sophie Roell, Journalist
