Tom Clancy biography

Synopsis

Career and Publications

Novelist Tom Clancy was born in 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland. A lifelong military technology buff, Clancy is known for writing thrillers with detailed technological and geopolitical themes.

Clancy was working as an insurance broker until he wrote his first novel in 1984, The Hunt for Red October, about the defection of a Russian submarine crew. The book made the New York Times best seller list after President Ronald Reagan openly praised it. His crafting of plausible military scenarios is so realistic that he has become a favorite of the United States military.

Clancy has dined with Presidents; admirals and generals regularly give him access to ships, subarines and aircraft; and Pentagon officials provide him material for upcoming projects. Today, some of Clancy's books are considered as required reading at U.S. military academies.

Ten of Clancy’s books have earned No. 1 rankings on the New York Times best seller list. Nearly 50 million copies of his books have been printed and three have been made into movies. His novels include Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Without Remorse, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders and Rainbow Six. In 1999 Clancy partnered with Chuck Horner, the General and Commander of the Desert Storm air offensive, to write Every Man a Tiger, a real-life account of the the Persian Gulf War from the top commander's vantage point.

In 1996 Clancy founded Red Storm Entertainment to create and market multimedia computer games based on his stories. Its first game Politika was released in November 1997. In February 1998, Tom Clancy announced that he planned to purchase the Minnesota Vikings at a price of roughly $200 million, but the deal fell through for undisclosed reasons.

Other Endeavors

In 1996, Clancy founded Red Storm Entertainment to create and market multimedia computer games based on his stories. Its first game, Politika, was released in November 1997.

In February 1998, Tom Clancy announced that he planned to purchase the Minnesota Vikings at a price of roughly $200 million, but the deal fell through for undisclosed reasons.

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