Mark Curtis is an independent author, journalist and consultant. He is a former Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and was until recently Director of the World Development Movement. He has worked in the field of international development for 14 years, including as Head of Global Advocacy and Policy at Christian Aid and Head of Policy at ActionAid.

He has written five books and numerous articles on British and US foreign policies and international development and trade issues. His most recent books are: Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses (Vintage, London, 2004); Web of Deceit: Britain’s Real Role in the World, (Vintage, London, 2003); Trade for Life: Making Trade Work for Poor People (Christian Aid, London, 2001); The Great Deception: Anglo-American Power and World Order (Pluto, London, 1998); and The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy since 1945 (Zed, London, 1995).

He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde and has been Visiting Research Fellow at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, Paris and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Auswaertige Politik, Bonn. He is a graduate of Goldsmiths’ College, University of London and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He does numerous public talks and is a regular commentator in the media.

Current projects include a new book on British foreign policy and radical Islam, travel to various African countries to investigate why hunger is deepening among poor farmers and investigations into the harsh impact of British mining and energy companies overseas - as well as the continuing hopeless task of interesting a mainstream media broadcaster in films on the reality of British foreign policy.

"Mark Curtis is, in my opinion, this country's best popular historian… Curtis' brilliant, exciting and deeply disturbing book unwraps the whole package, layer by layer, piece by piece. Not since Noam Chomsky's Deterring Democracy has there been such a disclosure."
- John Pilger

""Scrupulously, relentlessly, Mark Curtis rescues the historical and documentary record from a web of distortion and self-serving illusion. The range of his inquiries is as impressive as the care and diligence with which they are conducted. The picture of British policies that Curtis reveals should serve as a call to action for those who hope to understand the world that has been shaped by Western power, and to overcome the injustice and suffering that is, in no small measure, its cruel legacy".
- Noam Chomsky

In Dirty Wars, acclaimed historian Mark Curtis shows how Britain has helped create the Islamic jihadist terrorism that now threatnes us. Exploring how the bombings of 7/7 can be traced back to groups and individuals trained and supported by Britain, Curtis draws on formerly secret government files to unravel a long recent history of the British government's secret collusion with and direct involvement in Islamic terrorism, from 1945 to the present day. From the overthrow of Iran's popular government during the 1950s and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, to Libya, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia's ruthless internal oppression, Dirty Wars shows Britain's hidden hand in the rise of global terrorism. At a time when British forces are being reconfigured to fight this new enemy, this urgent, explosive book shows how British leaders now posing as the public's defenders have escaped accountability for their previous policies. In reality, they are our greatest threat.