Hailed by Jack Granatstein as Canada’s leading popular military historian and short-listed for the 2007 Pierre Berton Award for popularizing Canadian history, Mark Zuehlke is the author of 20 books, including nine devoted to military history. Breakout from Juno is the latest in his best-selling series on Canada’s major campaigns of World War II, which includes Ortona, The Liri Valley, The Gothic Line, Juno Beach Operation Husky and Holding Juno. He is also the co-author of The Canadian Military Atlas.

Zuehlke first began writing about the role Canadians played in World War II after discussing the Battle of Ortona with several veterans following a Remembrance Day ceremony in Kelowna, B.C. Discovering no book had been written on this pivotal battle, he decided to fill that gap, which resulted in the publication of Ortona: Canada’s Epic World War II Battle (Douglas & McIntyre) in 2003. The book was an unexpected bestseller and encouraged the author to develop a series on the Canadian World War II experience—the next installment of which is Terrible Victory: Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign.

Zuehlke’s books have garnered much critical praise and several awards for the author. For Honour’s Sake: The War of 1812 and the Brokering of an Uneasy Peace (Knopf) won the 2007 Canadian Authors Association Lela Common Award for Canadian History and Holding Juno (Douglas & McIntyre, 2005) won the 2006 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. The author also writes mystery novels and Hands Like Clouds won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel (2000) while Sweep Lotus was nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel (2004).

Mark Zuehlke lives in Victoria, British Columbia.