Max Adams is a critically-acclaimed author, an archaeologist, woodsman and teacher. His journeys through the landscapes of the past and the present, of human geography, music, art and culture are a continuing source of inspiration in his writing.
Born in 1961 in London, he was educated at the University of York, where he read archaeology. After a professional career which included the notorious excavations at Christchurch Spitalfields, and several years as Director of Archaeological Services at Durham University, Max went to live in a 40-acre woodland in County Durham for three years.
Max continues to manage woodland, and still lives on the north-west edge of County Durham, in a slightly more conventional dwelling. Max is also a musician, playing drums, harmonicas, Appalachian dulcimer and low-key whistle. He was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow from 2010-2012 and he is a Visiting Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University – where he also teaches Creative Writing.
He was awarded a Churchill Memorial Fellowship in 2003 to research his first historical biography, Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s own hero, published in 2005 to notable praise: ‘A compelling narrative’, Literary Review. ‘A lucid, compact style which is a pleasure to read …
Particularly effective in portraying the orchestrated chaos below deck in battle’, Spectator.
Two further biographies have since followed:
The Prometheans: John Martin and the generation that stole the future, (2010)
‘Max Adams has undertaken something new in The Prometheans; he has done it dazzlingly’, Miranda Seymour, Guardian Book of the Week.
And a Dark Age bestseller:
The King in the North: the life and times of Oswald Whiteblade, (2013)
‘A triumph. The most gripping portrait of 7th-Century Britain that I have read… A Game of Thrones in the Dark Ages.’ Tom Holland, The Times.
Max’s lifelong fascination with trees and their relationship with the human race, has found its expression in his 2014 The Wisdom of trees: A ‘fascinating, if quirky, exposition of all things woody… the book is a celebration of the plant from which it is made.’ Christopher Hurst, The Independent.
Max’s acclaimed sixth book, In the Land of Giants, (2015) explores the world of our Dark Age ancestors through embarking upon a series of ten journeys within the contemporary landscape. ‘It is impressive – though very much in keeping with the tone of the whole book – to see such awareness in action; and absorbing to note the results that can flow from such openness.’ Neil Hegarty, The Irish Times.
2017 saw the publication of Ælfred’s Britain: War and peace in the Viking Age, A history of the peoples of Britain, in the century and a half between the first Viking raids and the expulsion of the Vikings from York in 954. The reviewer in the TLS wrote: ‘This is much more than a book about the Vikings versus King Alfred … [Adams’] great achievement is to cover events throughout the whole of Britain with some excursions into Ireland and Europe as well’
Unquiet Women (2018) is a collection of more than 40 linked stories about women who have largely been neglected by history. They are not, for the most part, queens or celebrity figures. Each of them offers a window onto the lives of women across the dozen centuries that separate the end of the Roman Empire from the European enlightenment. This book aroused some comment. In response, Adams wrote:
I’ve recently heard and seen a few comments about Unquiet Women that address the issue of me being a man, writing about women. Some have told me they think it ‘ironic’ that a man should write about women’s history. One reviewer asked why the book project hadn’t been ‘given’ to a woman.
To answer that last point first. The book wasn’t ‘given’ to anyone. It should be obvious from the introduction that the book was my idea. And it’s worth saying that initially Head of Zeus were dead against it. I started writing it anyway because I thought it important for me to do so and, to their credit, HoZ eventually agreed, in return for me taking on two projects that they wanted. It was a good compromise, so far as I was concerned.
I have heard it said that one male author, on conceiving a biography of a woman he admired, was told that men ‘CAN’T’ write about women. Now, whether that’s meant in the sense of ‘can’t’ like, men can’t have babies; or ‘can’t’ as in ‘shouldn’t be allowed to’, is another matter. My thought on that is that if I had known that men weren’t allowed to write about women I would have done it years ago.
On the mater of ironies, I only ask, in return: ‘What, you think men should write (and therefore study, and think) LESS about women??’.
Trees of Life (2019) is a sumptuous visual feast of images from around the world, a celebration of the trees that human communities rely on for food, fuel, medicine and spiritual solace. In 80 or so stories, Max tells how these key trees have impacted on human cultural history, sometimes with startling results: the gutta percha tree that allowed the first transatlantic cables to be insulated; the breadfruit tree that caused the Mutiny on the Bounty; the seeds of the carob pod, 24 of which equalled the weight of a Roman gold solidus coin – giving us a measure of pure gold.