Oliver Thomson read history at Cambridge and later added a PhD at Glasgow University, where he has been a part-time lecturer for many years. His main career was in the advertising industry. He has written over a dozen books, many of which focus on propaganda and mass manipulation leading to oppressive governments and unnecessary wars. They include 'Easily Led: a History of Propaganda' and for Amberley 'The Impossible Bourbons', 'The Other Kaisers' and 'Zealots', an investigation into the religious roots of the Scottish and English Civil Wars. Several of his books have appeared in Japanese and Portuguese translation.