View source for William Shawcross

{{Short description|British writer, lecturer, and broadcaster}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Sir William Shawcross
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CVO}}
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| office              = [[Commissioner for Public Appointments]]
| term_start          = 1 October 2021<ref>{{cite web |title=Appointment of the Commissioner for Public Appointments |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/appointment-of-the-commissioner-for-public-appointments |website=GOV.UK |publisher=HM Government (Cabinet Office) |access-date=28 January 2023 |date=30 September 2021}}</ref>
| term_end            = 
| successor           = 
| predecessor         = [[Peter Riddell]]
| office1             = [[Charity Commission for England and Wales#Chairs of the commission|Chair of the Charity Commission]]
| primeminister1      = [[David Cameron]]<br/> [[Theresa May]]
| term_start1         = 1 October 2012
| term_end1           = 23 February 2018
| predecessor1        = [[Suzi Leather]]
| successor1          = [[Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston]]
| birth_name          = William Hartley Hume Shawcross
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1946|5|28|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Sussex]], England
| parents             = {{plainlist|
*[[Hartley Shawcross]]
*Joan Mather}}
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Marina Warner]]|1971|1980|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|Michal Levin|1981|c. 1993<!--The sources do not give an exact date.-->|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[Olga Polizzi]]|3 October 1993}}
}}
| children            = {{plainlist|
*[[Conrad Shawcross]]
*[[Eleanor Shawcross]]
*[[Alex Polizzi]] (step-daughter)
}}
| relatives           = {{plainlist|
*[[Charles Forte, Baron Forte]] (father-in-law)
*[[Rocco Forte]] (brother-in-law)
*[[Simon Wolfson]] (son-in-law)}}
| residence           = Friston Place, [[East Dean and Friston|East Dean]], [[East Sussex]]
| website             = {{URL|https://www.williamshawcross.org/}}
| education           = {{plainlist| 
*[[St Aubyns School]]
*[[Eton College]]
*[[University College, Oxford]]}}
}}
'''Sir William Hartley Hume Shawcross''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CVO}} (born 28 May 1946) is a British journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He is the incumbent [[Commissioner for Public Appointments]]. From 2012 to 2018 he chaired the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales]].

Shawcross has written and lectured on issues of international policy, [[geopolitics]], [[Southeast Asia]] and [[refugee]]s, as well as the British royal family.  He has written for several publications, including ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[Newsweek]]'', ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', ''[[The Spectator]]'', ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''[[Rolling Stone]]'',<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/13/monarchy.biography|title=Profile: William Shawcross|last=Vulliamy|first=Ed|date=2003-07-13|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-09-03}}</ref> in addition to writing numerous books on international topics: the [[Prague Spring]], the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Iranian Revolution]], the [[Iraq War]], [[Aid|foreign assistance]], [[humanitarian intervention]], and the [[United Nations]]. His works ''Sideshow'' (1979) and ''The Quality of Mercy'' (1984) were among ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'''s books of the year.<ref name="NYT-12-30-79A"/><ref name="NYT-12-2-1984"/>

==Early life and education==

The eldest of three children, William Shawcross was born on 28 May 1946 in Sussex, to the barrister [[Hartley Shawcross]] and his second wife Joan Mather. At the time of his birth, his father was the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Member of Parliament (UK)|MP]] for [[St Helens (UK Parliament constituency)|St Helens]], the [[Attorney General for England and Wales]], the first British principal delegate to the [[United Nations]], and the [[Nuremberg trials#Establishment#Judges and prosecutors|Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom]] at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. His mother died in a riding accident on the [[Sussex Downs]] in 1974.  His father died at the age of 101 in 2003.

Shawcross was educated at [[St Aubyns School|St Aubyns Preparatory School]] in [[Rottingdean]], followed by [[Eton College]], and [[University College, Oxford]], from which he graduated in 1968.<ref name="NYT-5-13-79">{{cite news |last1=Mitgang |first1=Herbert |title=How Writer Got Secrets Of U.S. Cambodian Acts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/13/archives/how-writer-got-secrets-of-us-cambodian-acts-information-for.html |access-date=18 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=13 May 1979}}</ref> After leaving Oxford, he attended [[Saint Martin's School of Art]] to study sculpture and became a freelance researcher for ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]''.<ref name="BurrellProf1">{{cite news |last1=Burrell |first1=Ian |title=William Shawcross, profile: From scourge of Nixon to Establishment lackey? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/william-shawcross-profile-from-scourge-of-nixon-to-establishment-lackey-10487534.html |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=The Independent |date=4 December 2015}}</ref> Unable to obtain a permanent position at the newspaper, he wrote his first book, a biography of the [[Czechoslovakia]]n leader [[Alexander Dubček]], which was published in 1970.<ref name="CowleyProf1">{{cite news |last1=Cowley |first1=Jason |title=NS Man of the year – William Shawcross Once a model progressive, he is now the royal choice to write the Queen Mother's life and an apologi |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2003/12/ns-man-of-the-year-william-shawcross |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=The New Statesman |date=15 December 2003}}</ref>

==Career==

After leaving Oxford, Shawcross worked as a journalist for ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'', and contributed to a book by its journalists on [[Watergate]].<ref name="NYT-5-13-79"/>

In 1973, as a Congressional Fellow of the [[American Political Science Association]], Shawcross worked in Washington, DC, on the staffs of Senator [[Edward M. Kennedy]] and Representative [[Les Aspin]].<ref name="NYT-5-13-79"/>

From 1986 to 1996 Shawcross was Chairman of [[ARTICLE 19]], the international centre on censorship.

From 1997 to 2002, he was a Member of the Council of the [[Disasters Emergency Committee]], and a board member of the [[International Crisis Group]] from 1995 to 2005.<ref name="Independent">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/william-shawcross-profile-from-scourge-of-nixon-to-establishment-lackey-10487534.html|title=William Shawcross: From scourge of Nixon to Establishment lackey?|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-09-03|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Shawcross was appointed a member of the [[UN High Commissioner for Refugees]]'s Informal Advisory Group in 1995, a post he held until 2000.

From 1997 to 2003, he was a member of the [[BBC World Service]] Advisory Council.

In 2008, he became a Patron of the [[Wiener Library]], and in 2011 he joined the board of the [[Anglo-Israel Association]] and was appointed to the board of the [[Henry Jackson Society]].

Shawcross was appointed to the chairmanship of the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales]] on 1 October 2012, serving 2 three-year terms as its chairman until February 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.williamshawcross.org/index.php?page=cv |title=Curriculum Vitae  |website=William Shawcross}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/william-shawcross-reappointed-as-chair-of-the-charity-commission |title=William Shawcross reappointed as Chair of the Charity Commission |website=GOV.UK}}</ref> His appointment was controversially extended in 2015; a decision that was criticised as "rushed" for "political reasons" by his opponents.<ref name="Telegraph-2015">{{cite news |last1=Hope |first1=Christopher |title=Political storm over Charity Commission boss: Labour furious over reappointment of Tory favourite William Shawcross |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11412937/Political-storm-over-Charity-Commission-boss.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103205853/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11412937/Political-storm-over-Charity-Commission-boss.html  |archive-date=3 November 2019 |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The Telegraph |date=15 February 2015}}</ref> A January 2018 assessment of his tenure concluded that he "won praise from government but heavy criticism from within the charity sector."<ref name="3S">{{cite news |last1=Cook |first1=Stephen |title=The ups and downs of the Shawcross years |url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/ups-downs-shawcross-years/governance/article/1455092 |access-date=2 November 2019 |work=Third Sector |date=23 January 2018}}</ref>

In March 2019, he was named by the UK Foreign Secretary as Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.<ref name="PR">{{cite web |title=Foreign Secretary appoints Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism (press release) |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-appoints-special-representative-on-uk-victims-of-qadhafi-sponsored-ira-terrorism |website=GOV.UK |access-date=1 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref>  In March 2020, he delivered his report to the Foreign Secretary but, controversially, it was not made public.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peachey |first1=Paul |title=Victims of Libyan-backed terrorism face new compensation battle |url=https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/victims-of-libyan-backed-terrorism-face-new-compensation-battle-1.1061766 |access-date=2 September 2020 |work=The National |date=10 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Williamson |first1=David |title=IRA victims betrayed: Fury at warning of compensation report silence 'Shameful!' |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1320578/IRA-victims-libya-sponsorship-terror-william-shawcross-report |access-date=2 September 2020 |work=Sunday Express |date=9 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2021, the British government appointed Shawcross to head the review of its anti-radicalisation programme, [[CONTEST#Prevent|Prevent]].  [[Amnesty International]] and 16 other human rights and community organisations announced they would boycott the review in protest at the appointment of William Shawcross as its chairman as they feared a "whitewash" because of his perceived anti-Muslim political positions.<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/uk-ngos-condemn-appointment-of-william-shawcross-and-announce-civil-society-led-review-of-prevent/ NGOs Condemn appointment of William Shawcross and announce civil society-led review of Prevent] [[Amnesty International]], 16 February 2021; Sadakat Kadri: [Why is the government trying to undermine its anti-terror programme?] [[The Guardian]], 1 March 2021.</ref>

Shawcross was appointed the [[Commissioner for Public Appointments]] in September 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/about-us/ | title=About the Commissioner }}</ref>

As commissioner, on 24 January 2023 he opened an investigation into the appointment of [[Richard Sharp (BBC chairman)|Richard Sharp]] to the [[Chairman of the BBC|chairmanship]] of the [[BBC]] amid allegations that the then-prime minister, [[Boris Johnson]], had recommended Sharp's appointment after Sharp had helped secure a loan guarantee agreement for Johnson.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rhoden-Paul |first1=Andre |last2=Sillito |first2=David |title=Richard Sharp: Watchdog review begins into BBC chairman's hiring |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64377685 |access-date=28 January 2023 |agency=BBC |date=24 January 2023}}</ref> Six days after beginning the investigation into Sharp's appointment, Shawcross wrote to [[Julian Knight (politician)|Julian Knight]], the chair of the [[Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee]], to recuse himself from its deliberations, disclosing that he had met Sharp "on previous occasions" which could give the impression of a prior conflict of interest. Shawcross announced that he would be handing his investigation to an "independent person" to complete while retaining the other regulatory powers of his office.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Jennifer |title=Watchdog chief removes himself from investigation into appointment of BBC chairman after Boris Johnson loan claims |url=https://news.sky.com/story/commissioner-removes-himself-from-investigation-into-appointment-of-bbc-chairman-after-boris-johnson-loan-claims-12799342 |access-date=30 January 2023 |agency=Sky News |publisher=Sky News |date=30 January 2023}}</ref>

==Political views==
Shawcross's politics have been described as having moved to the right throughout his life.<ref name="Independent"/>  His 1979 book on [[Cambodia]], ''Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia'', resulted in Shawcross's being "lauded by liberal intellectuals and America's East Coast elite."<ref name="Independent"/> The US left continues to praise Shawcross's earlier work; for example, in September 2019, ''Sideshow'' was cited at length in an opinion piece in ''[[The Intercept]]'' defending Rep. [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]].<ref name="Intercept">{{cite news |last1=Mackey |first1=Robert |title=Creepy Republican Ad During Democratic Debate Attacks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/09/12/debate-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-new-faces-pac-ad/ |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=The Intercept |date=13 September 2019}}</ref>

As an initial indicator of how his views were shifting, in his 1990 introduction to the revised edition of his 1970 biography of [[Alexander Dubček]], Shawcross wrote:
<blockquote>
My own principal criticism [of his own 1970 book] is that I did not realize adequately that the experiment of humane Communism, or Socialism with a Human Face, was impossible, perhaps even a contradiction in terms.  . . .  The last twenty years have shown nothing so much as the catastrophic nature of Communism everywhere.  Wherever Communism has triumphed—I think particularly of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos—its consequences have been utterly disastrous.<ref name="Dubcek">{{cite book |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Dubcek |date=1990 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-72870-9 |edition=Rev. and updated |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dubcek00shaw }}</ref>{{rp|page=6}}
</blockquote>

In 1992, he wrote an "admiring" biography of [[Rupert Murdoch]].<ref name="Independent"/>  In 1994, about his 1970s journalism from Vietnam, in light of subsequent abuses by the governments of Cambodia, [[Vietnam]], and [[Laos]], Shawcross wrote:
<blockquote>
I think I concentrated too easily on the corruption and incompetence of the South Vietnamese and their American allies, was too ignorant of the inhuman Hanoi regime, and far too willing to believe that a victory by the Communists would provide a better future.<ref name="Commentary">{{cite news |last1=Rodman |first1=Peter W. |title=Grantsmanship & the Killing Fields |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/grantsmanship-the-killing-fields/ |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=Commentary}}</ref> 
</blockquote>

Following the [[September 11 attacks|attacks of 11 September 2001]], he supported the US invasion of Iraq.<ref name="Guardian"/>

His 2003 selection by [[Buckingham Palace]] to write the authorised biography of the [[Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother|Queen Mother]] was described as drawing "Shawcross into the bosom of the monarchy in a way rarely enjoyed by any layman", and the resulting book led to him being described as a "royalist writer."<ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="Independent"/>  The biography was published in 2009, and a collection of letters followed in 2012. He is a pronounced royalist, who is frequently complimentary of the [[Royal Family of the United Kingdom|Royal Family]], for example in an April 2020 piece for ''[[The Spectator]]'' on [[Queen Elizabeth II]], titled "Thank God for the Queen": 
<blockquote>"One happy result of the horrible virus is that it has prompted the Queen to give us not one but two statements of her faith in this country and God. Together they demonstrate vividly the exquisite, strong but light touch of our almost timeless monarch."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Thank God for the Queen |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/thank-god-for-the-queen |access-date=2 September 2020 |work=www.spectator.co.uk |date=14 April 2020}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2006, Shawcross warned of "a vast [[fifth column]]" of [[Muslims in Europe]] who "wish to destroy us"; we should not shy away from labelling the problem "Islamic [[fascism]]".<ref>William Shawcross: [https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/yes-the-problem-is-islamic-fascism Yes, the problem is 'Islamic fascism'] [[Jerusalem Post]], 13 August 2006.</ref>

In a 2010 article for ''[[National Review]]'' Shawcross described Britain as a "mere piece of the bland but increasingly oppressive Bambiland of the E.U., promoting such PC global issues as gay rights (except in Muslim lands) and man-made climate change." He also criticised "postmodernism"; defining it as "a disastrous creed that there is no objective truth and that everything is relative" and likened it to a form of [[appeasement]]. In the same article, Shawcross described Labour's "'[[multiculturalism|multicultural]]' ideology" as a "catastrophe" and implied that Labour's immigration policy was designed to "[[Great replacement|dilute Britishness]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Britain's Humiliation |date=29 April 2010 |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/britains-humiliation-william-shawcross/ |access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref>

In his 2012 book ''Justice and the Enemy'', Shawcross defended the use of [[torture]] and [[waterboarding]] at [[Guantánamo Bay]] as a natural "response to the most urgent problems" of terrorism.<ref>Ziauddin Sardar: [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/justice-and-enemy-william-shawcross-7545608.html Justice and the Enemy, By William Shawcross] [[The Independent]], 9 March 2012.</ref>

In November 2018 he appeared to walk back his 1979 criticism of [[Henry Kissinger]] in ''Sideshow;'' in an argument that Kissinger should be allowed to speak at [[New York University]], Shawcross noted "regret" for the "tone" of his prior criticism of Kissinger, which he minimised as "a policy disagreement over Cambodia", as opposed to "a moral crusade", and he concluded that Kissinger "is an extraordinary man who deserves respect."<ref name="RCP">{{cite news |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Kissinger and I Were Once at Odds, But Let Him Speak |url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/11/20/kissinger_and_i_were_once_at_odds_but_let_him_speak_138694.html |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=Real Clear Politics |date=20 November 2018}}</ref>

In November 2019 he came out in support of [[Brexit|Britain's exit from the European Union]], on the basis of the EU's problematic nature and approach, writing in ''[[The Spectator]]'' that "there are risks in proceeding with [[Brexit]]. But there are far greater risks in abandoning it."<ref name="Spectator-Brexit">{{cite news |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Brexit has its risks. But staying in the EU is now unthinkable |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/brexit-has-its-risks-but-staying-in-the-eu-is-now-unthinkable/ |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=7 September 2019}}</ref>

The change over time in Shawcross's politics has been compared to the political shifts of his father Hartley Shawcross, [[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], and [[Christopher Hitchens]].<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL">{{cite web |title=William Shawcross – Literature |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/william-shawcross |website=British Council: Literature |access-date=3 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="NS">{{cite news |last1=Cowley |first1=Jason |title=NS Man of the year – William Shawcross |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/194905 |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=New Statesman |language=en}}</ref>  While noting speculation about other reasons for the shift, American journalist [[James Traub]] speculated that "it's more instructive to consider the possibility that Shawcross has remained true to his principles, but that a morally driven foreign policy looks very different after 9/11 than it did before."<ref name="NYT-1-11-04">{{cite news |last1=Traub |first1=James |title=The Good War? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/books/the-good-war.html |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=11 January 2004}}</ref>

==Selected books==
===''Dubcek'' (1970, revised 1990)===
Shawcross's first published book was a biography of [[Alexander Dubček]], the leader of [[Czechoslovakia]] during the 1968 [[Prague Spring]] whose "socialism with a human face" briefly brought freedom into the [[Soviet Bloc]].  According to the introduction to the 1990 edition, the book's genesis was in Shawcross's travels to Czechoslovakia as a 22-year-old recent college graduate in 1968–69, when he witnessed the Prague Spring and its aftermath.<ref name="Dubcek"/>{{rp|pages=1–3}}  In April 1969, as his first assignment, ''[[The Times]]'' sent Shawcross to Prague to report on Dubcek's deposition from power, which led him to decide "I would like to write a book about Dubcek", and to spend several months in Czechoslovakia researching it.<ref name="Dubcek"/>{{rp|pages=3–5}}  The book concluded that Dubcek "was quite convinced that he had discovered in 1968 that for which philosophers and philanthropists have for centuries searched—the just society.  He may have been right."<ref name="Dubcek"/>{{rp|page=206}}

''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', in December 1971, named ''Dubcek'' among the year's "noteworthy titles", describing it in a June 1971 capsule review as: "Written less than a year after Alexander Dubcek's resignation, this biography of the Czech leader by a London journalist is an authoritative, first‐rate job."<ref name="NYT-12-5-71">{{cite news |title=1971: A Selection Of Noteworthy Titles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/05/archives/1971-a-selection-of-noteworthy-titles.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=5 December 1971}}</ref><ref name="NYT-6-6-71">{{cite news |title=A Selection Of Recent Titles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/06/archives/a-selection-of-recent-titles-a-selection-of-recent-titles.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=6 June 1971}}</ref>

Shawcross revised and reissued ''Dubcek'' in 1990 upon its subject's return to prominence and power during the [[Velvet Revolution]], following two decades of rustication.

===''Crime and Compromise: Janos Kadar and the Politics of Hungary Since Revolution'' (1974)===
Shawcross next wrote "a political study of Hungarian politician [[János Kádár]]" who, like Dubcek, "tried to negotiate with Communist dogmas to create more humane regimes."<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL"/> 
In it, Shawcross argued that, following Kádár's 1956 betrayal of Hungarian President [[Imre Nagy]], "Kadar worked to reunite Hungary and succeeded in making it one of the most advanced countries in the [[Warsaw Pact]] in both economic and democratic terms."<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL"/>

In his mostly-favourable review in ''The Washington Post'', Robert Dean, a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] analyst, wrote that "Shawcross has succeeded admirably in conveying a sense of the atmosphere which has come to prevail in the wake of the reform, and how a cautious reformist ethos and economic success have in turn shaped cultural life, social policies, and the attitudes of youth."<ref name="W-POST-6-30-1974">{{cite news |last1=Dean |first1=Robert W. |title=Measure for Measure: Hungary Under Janos Kadar (book review) |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=30 June 1974}}</ref> Dean thought that the book portrayed Kadar less well than it did Hungary: "One senses that Shawcross would have liked to have produced a biography of Kadar but was stymied by the incompleteness of information."<ref name="W-POST-6-30-1974"/>

===''Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia'' (1979)===
''Sideshow'' is, at least in the United States, Shawcross's best-known and most controversial book.<ref name="NYT-3-3-04">{{cite news |last1=Asmus |first1=Ronald D. |title=Using American Power: Definite and Opposite Views |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/03/books/books-of-the-times-using-american-power-definite-and-opposite-views.html |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 March 2004}}</ref> To write it, Shawcross interviewed over 300 people and reviewed thousands of US Government documents, some classified Top Secret, obtained using the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]].<ref name="NYT-4-24-79">{{cite news |last1=Leonard |first1=John |title=Books of The Times – SIDESHOW. Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. By William Shawcross |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/24/archives/books-of-the-times-forces-us-to-remember.html |access-date=18 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=24 April 1979}}</ref><ref name="NYT-5-13-79"/>  ''Sideshow'' exposed the secret bombing of [[Cambodia]] conducted by US President [[Richard Nixon]] and his advisor [[Henry Kissinger]], and argued that Nixon's and Kissinger's policy "led to the rise of the [[Khmer Rouge]] and the subsequent massacre of a third of Cambodia's population,"<ref name="Independent"/><ref name="NYRB">{{cite news |last1=Hoffmann |first1=Stanley |title=The Crime of Cambodia (book review) |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/06/28/the-crime-of-cambodia/ |access-date=1 November 2019 |work=New York Review of Books |date=28 June 1979 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="RL">{{cite book |title=Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia, Revised Edition |url=https://rowman.com/isbn/9780815412243/sideshow-kissinger-nixon-and-the-destruction-of-cambodia-revised-edition |website=Rowman & Littlefield |access-date=1 November 2019 |language=en-us}}</ref>  According to one summary, ''Sideshow''
<blockquote>
denounces the systematic destruction of Cambodia by the Nixon Administration as a consequence of the Vietnam War and for the sake of a mere strategic design. The study stresses how the decision to attack a neutral country was a patent violation of the American Constitution. As in his previous two books, Shawcross combines an interest in international policies with a private focus on the personal relationship between Nixon and Kissinger. The study argues that the President and his Secretary of State reproduced in their international relations the same pattern of falsehood that characterized their association.<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL"/>
</blockquote>

The book's penultimate, conclusory sentence — "Cambodia was not a mistake; it was a crime"<ref name="Sideshow">{{cite book |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the destruction of Cambodia |date=1979 |publisher=André Deutsch |isbn=0-233-97077-0 |page=396 |edition=UK}}</ref> — is frequently quoted; whenever Shawcross's lifetime of writing is reduced to one sentence, that's it.<ref name="NYT-4-24-79"/><ref name="NYRB"/><ref name="NI">{{cite news |last1=Heilbrunn |first1=Jacob |title=Sanders: The Best Thing to Happen to Clinton? |url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/sanders-the-best-thing-happen-clinton-15195 |access-date=20 November 2019 |work=The National Interest |date=12 February 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="w-post-5-12-79">{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Henry |title=Calling America's Bluff on Cambodia |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/05/12/calling-americas-bluff-on-cambodia/26760381-a0b7-458c-98de-2f25f6aeaae0/ |access-date=20 November 2019 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=12 May 1979}}</ref><ref name="LAT-1991">{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Roger |title=Perspective on Cambodia: Snubs, Brooding and a Lasting Curse. The U.S. Took an Island of Peace and Gave It a Holocaust. Even Today, the Horror Inflicted by Nixon Echoes |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 November 1991}}</ref>

''Sideshow'' received high praise and awards.  The [[Pulitzer Prize]] jury recommended a special citation for it in the 1980 awards based on its "extraordinary qualities", although it was ineligible for the prize because its author was not American; the Pulitzer board declined that recommendation, however.<ref name="NYT-4-15-80">{{cite news |last1=Kihss |first1=Peter |title=Drama Pulitzer to 'Talley's Folly'; Mailer Honored for Gilmore Book |work=The New York Times |date=15 April 1980}}</ref> ''The New York Times Book Review'' selected ''Sideshow'' among its top 17 "Editor's Choice" books of 1979, describing it as an "indictment" of Kissinger and Nixon.<ref name="NYT-12-30-79A">{{cite news |title=Editors' Choice, 1979 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/12/30/issue.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=30 December 1979}}</ref>  It won the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award in Journalism]]'s Book Award for 1979.<ref name="NYT-2-25-80">{{cite news |title=Reporter and an Obituary Writer for the Times Get Polk Awards |work=The New York Times |date=25 February 1980}}</ref>  Columnist [[Anthony Lewis]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'',
<blockquote>
I think it is the most interesting and the most important book on American foreign policy in many years. On more than foreign policy, really: on the American constitutional system. For it is a textbook — a gripping, factual textbook — on what can happen when the system is violated.<ref name="NYT-5-3-79">{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Anthony |title=Abroad at Home |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/03/archives/abroad-at-home-it-did-happen-here.html |access-date=18 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 May 1979}}</ref>
</blockquote>

John Leonard of ''The New York Times'' wrote that in addition to being "meticulous[ly]" documented, "it has the sweep and the shadow of a spy novel as it portrays the surreal world of power, severed from morality, paranoid, feeding on itself."<ref name="NYT-4-24-79"/>

Kissinger, who declined Shawcross's interview requests when the book was being written,<ref name="RCP"/> vociferously denounced ''Sideshow'', as did American conservatives.  In an angry letter to ''[[The Economist]]'', Kissinger described the book as "obscene" and "absurd."<ref name="NYT-9-24-79">{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Anthony |title=Abroad at Home |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/24/archives/abroad-at-home-out-damned-spot.html |access-date=18 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=24 September 1979}}</ref> Observing that both ''Sideshow'' and Kissinger's memoir, ''White House Years'', were included among ''The New York Times Book Review''{{'}}s best books of 1979, [[Herbert Mitgang]] asked each author about the other's volume.  Kissinger called ''Sideshow'' "a shoddy, outrageous work that is filled with inaccuracies," adding, "And you can quote me."<ref name="NYT-12-30-79B">{{cite news |last1=Mitgang |first1=Herbert |title=Book Ends: Kissinger vs. Shawcross |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/30/archives/book-ends-kissinger-vs-shawcross.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=30 December 1979}}</ref> Following the publication of ''Sideshow'', [[Peter Rodman]], an aide to Kissinger, concluded that Shawcross's work was "a fraud" and "a compendium of errors, sleight of hand, and egregious selectivity", according to [[Emmett Tyrrell|R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.]], who published Rodman's criticism in his conservative magazine, ''[[The American Spectator]]''.<ref name="WP-6-22-81">{{cite news |last1=Tyrrell |first1=R. Emmett Jr. |title=Cambodia: The War of the Intellectuals |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/06/22/cambodia-the-war-of-the-intellectuals/cfad313c-88fe-408c-86da-6767e93f6799/ |access-date=19 November 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=22 June 1981}}</ref><ref name="NYSUN">{{cite news |last1=Tyrrell |first1=R. Emmett Jr. |title=Brilliant, Modest, and Loyal |url=https://www.nysun.com/opinion/brilliant-modest-and-loyal/83246/ |access-date=19 November 2019 |work=The New York Sun |date=6 August 2008}}</ref> Shawcross, in turn, described Rodman's critique as "a rotten piece of work" and wrote a response ("demonstrating the fallacies, if not the fraud, of almost all of Mr. Rodman's points"), which ''The American Spectator'' published, with Rodman's further reply.
<ref name="WPO-5-28-81">{{cite news |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title='Sideshow' again (letter to the editor) |newspaper=Washington Post |date=28 May 1981}}</ref><ref name="WP-6-22-81"/> Shawcross included the entire exchange in later editions of ''Sideshow''.<ref name="RCP"/>  Tyrrell proclaimed ''Sideshow'' the "worst book of the year" in the Washington Post, as did his magazine.<ref name="WPO-1-7-80">{{cite news |last1=Tyrrell |first1=R. Emmett Jr. |title=The Worst Book of the Year |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=7 January 1980}}</ref><ref name="Am-Spect-2011">{{cite news |last1=Tyrrell |first1=R. Emmett Jr. |title=The Continuing Crisis |work=The American Spectator |date=September 2011}}</ref> Shawcross later became friends with Tyrrell and Rodman.  In 2007, Shawcross and Rodman co-wrote a ''New York Times'' op-ed, referring to their past differences over Cambodia but jointly arguing against U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.<ref name="NYSUN"/><ref name="RCP"/><ref name="NYT-6-7-07">{{cite news |last1=Rodman |first1=Peter W. |last2=Shawcross |first2=William |title=Opinion: Defeat's Killing Fields |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/opinion/07shawcross.html |access-date=19 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=7 June 2007}}</ref> When Rodman died in 2008, Shawcross was "much saddened", as he later wrote, and sent Tyrrell a note expressing his grief.<ref name="RCP"/><ref name="NYSUN"/>  And in 2011, ''The American Spectator'' ceremonially revoked its 1979 "worst book of the year" award, on grounds that subsequently "Shawcross has become increasingly sound" in his views, at a London lunch among Shawcross and Tyrrell.<ref name="Am-Spect-2011"/>

===''The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience'' (1984)===
''The Quality of Mercy'' again addresses Cambodia, but as a critical assessment of the aid and relief efforts of governments, UN bodies, and international relief agencies following the suffering inflicted on that country by its [[Khmer Rouge]] government and by its neighbour, [[Vietnam]].  Shawcross's book portrays, in the words of Colin Campbell's ''New York Times'' review, "a humanitarian outpouring that was shot through with misrepresentations, incompetence, callousness and shirking of principle."<ref name="NYT-7-16-94">{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Colin |title=Books of the Times: The Quality of Mercy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/16/books/books-of-the-times-067164.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 July 1984}}</ref>  The book finds positives and negatives of each player, but overall, the United States, in particular the U.S. Embassy in Thailand and its Ambassador, [[Morton Abramowitz]], "comes out looking pretty good. Vietnam appears to have been the main obstacle to the Cambodians' relief."<ref name="NYT-7-22-84B">{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Colin |title=The Perplexities of Relief |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/books/tragic-cambodia-response-and-responsibility.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=22 July 1984}}</ref><ref name="7-22-84A">{{cite news |last1=Neier |first1=Aryeh |title=Tragic Cambodia: Response and Responsibility |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/books/tragic-cambodia-response-and-responsibility.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=22 July 1984}}</ref>

''The Quality of Mercy'' has received less attention than some of Shawcross's other books, but is highly regarded by some critics, while also receiving negative criticism from others. The historian and Cambodia expert [[Ben Kiernan]], who was "Shawcross's interpreter for several weeks" when he was researching the book, wrote a long critical essay.<ref name="BCAS">{{cite journal |last1=Kiernan |first1=Ben |title=William Shawcross, declining Cambodia |journal=Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars |date=1986 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=56–63 |doi=10.1080/14672715.1986.10412591 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Australian journalist [[John Pilger]]—who is criticised in ''The Quality of Mercy'',<ref name="Quality"/>{{rp|pages=139–141}} and the two men have a continuing history of public disagreements<ref name="Kamm">{{cite web |title=Pilger and his public |url=https://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2007/12/pilger-and-his.html |website=Oliver Kamm |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref>—reportedly attacked Shawcross in a ''[[New Statesman]]'' review as a "born-again cold warrior."<ref name="NLR">{{cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Grant |title=William Shawcross's Cambodian Crusade, NLR I/152, July–August 1985 |url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/I152/articles/grant-evans-william-shawcross-s-cambodian-crusade.pdf |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=New Left Review |date=July–August 1985 |language=en}}</ref> But [[Ed Vulliamy]], in ''[[The Guardian]]'', called it "Shawcross's bravest, most complicated and astute work", commenting that "the little-known ''Quality of Mercy'' examined and challenged deficiencies in the international aid programme to Cambodia, which lavished assistance on the remnants of [[Pol Pot]]'s Khmer Rouge, perpetuating the violence."<ref name="Guardian"/> The editors of ''The New York Times Book Review'' included it among their fifteen "Editor's Choice" books, as the best books of 1984.<ref name="NYT-12-2-1984">{{cite news |title=Editor's Choice: The Best Books of 1984 |work=The New York Times |date=2 December 1984}}</ref>  ''The New York Times'' concluded, "This is a startling book and most of it is very persuasive."  He stated that on most counts, "Mr. Shawcross's subtlety and lack of sanctimony are remarkable."  He also considers it "noteworthy that a journalist who in the past attacked American policy so fiercely has, in this book, portrayed at least the United States Embassy in [[Bangkok]] as one of the best informed and most decently efficient actors in the refugee drama."<ref name="NYT-7-16-94"/>  Human rights activist [[Aryeh Neier]], reviewing ''The Quality of Mercy'' in ''The New York Times Book Review'', similarly stated that "a reader cannot help but be impressed by his apparent fairness" and called it "a splendid book that will have a profound impact."<ref name="7-22-84A"/>  He concluded that ''The Quality of Mercy'' "may well be the best account we have of the politics of international charity."<ref name="7-22-84A"/>

''The Quality of Mercy'' was republished in 1985 with an additional final chapter, "Report from Ethiopia—May 1985", describing relief efforts in response to the [[1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia|Ethiopian famine]] in light of the Cambodian experience.<ref name="Quality">{{cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust, and Modern Conscience; with a Report from Ethiopia |date=1984 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-671-60640-9 |edition=Touchstone 1985}}</ref>{{rp|pages=431–451}}  Shawcross drew several lamentable parallels, for example that "in Ethiopia as well as Cambodia, humanitarian aid was being used by a Communist regime to underwrite war."<ref name="Quality"/>{{rp|pages=450–451}} The essay concluded, "In neither Cambodia nor Ethiopia did the ordinary people for whom the aid was delivered benefit from it to the extent which had been intended and which they deserved.  Instead aid was being used to prolong rather than to end the disaster."<ref name="Quality"/>{{rp|page=451}}

===''The Shah's Last Ride'' (1988)===
This book's US subtitle was "The Fate of an Ally;" its 1989 UK subtitle was "The Story of the Exile, Misadventures and Death of the Emperor."  ''The Shah's Last Ride'' is, in the words of its prologue, "the story of a journey, the Shah's forlorn journey into exile and death, and of various elements of his rule—his relations with the British and Americans, his secret police, [[SAVAK]], the CIA, oil, the arms trade. The tale of the fall and exile of the Shah illustrates the nature of the relationship between states and leaders.  It is a story of loyalty and convenience."<ref name="Shah">{{cite book |last1=Shawcross |first1=William |title=The Shah's last ride: the story of the exile, misadventures and death of the Emperor |date=1989 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=0-7011-3254-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/shahslastridesto06shaw }}</ref>{{rp|page=14}}  It retraces the odyssey of [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|the last Shah]] of [[Iran]] after being driven into exile by the [[Iranian Revolution]], first to [[Egypt]], and then in succession to [[Morocco]], [[the Bahamas]], [[Mexico]], [[the United States]], [[Panama]], and finally back to Egypt, where he died.<ref name="NR-1988">{{cite magazine |last1=Ajami |first1=Fouad |title=Kissinger's Revenge (book review) |magazine=The New Republic |date=10 October 1988}}</ref>  Shawcross traces his interest in Iran to the 1960s: "Ardeshir Zahedi, the Shah's Ambassador to London, became a firm friend of my family then, and has remained so since."<ref name="Shah"/>{{rp|page=417}}  As a further family connection, Shawcross's father "was once President of the [[Iran Society in Britain]]."<ref name="Shah"/>{{rp|page=419}}

Many reviewers praised ''The Shah's Last Ride'' for the high quality of its narrative and storytelling, with praise such as "a compelling, evenhanded, artful book, more like a novel than a history;"<ref name="WPO-10-2-88">{{cite news |last1=Powers |first1=Thomas |title=King Without a Country (book review) |newspaper=Washington Post |date=2 October 1988}}</ref><ref name="CHI-TRIB">{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Warren L. |title=Understanding Iran: Straight Talk About a Land that Most Americans Like to Hate (book reviews) |work=Chicago Tribune |date=2 October 1988}}</ref><ref name="Kirkus">{{cite news |title=THE SHAH'S LAST RIDE by William Shawcross (book review) |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-shawcross/the-shahs-last-ride/ |access-date=20 November 2019 |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=17 October 1988 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="ZK">{{cite news |last1=Khalilzad |first1=Zalmay |title=Sad Stories About the Shah's Last Days (book review) |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=2 November 1988}}</ref>  Much of what criticism the book received arose from its narrow focus.  One Middle East expert, [[Daniel Pipes]], wrote that Shawcross "has done his best to eke out the details of this sad, small tale. But this reader concludes that he has pretty much wasted his time, and Shawcross himself seems to know it."<ref name="Orbis">{{cite news |last1=Pipes |first1=Daniel |title=The Shah's Last Ride: The Fate of an Ally (book review)|url=https://www.danielpipes.org/11238/shah-last-ride |access-date=20 November 2019 |work=Orbis |date=Spring 1989 |language=en}}</ref>  Another, [[Zalmay Khalilzad]] (later Republican-appointed U.S. Ambassador to, successively, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations), criticised the book for not highlighting the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]]'s failures in its dealings with the Shah.<ref name="ZK"/>  A third Middle East expert, [[Fouad Ajami]], criticised Shawcross for telling the Shah's story as a sympathetic (or at least pathetic) tale of "the woes of an ailing, old man, dying of cancer" rather than one of an oppressive dictator and his long, brutal reign.<ref name="TNR-1988">{{cite magazine |last1=Ajami |first1=Douad |title=Kissinger's Revenge (book review) |magazine=The New Republic |date=10 October 1988}}</ref> Ajami further criticised Shawcross's choice of sources from the Shah's circle, and his credulous attitude toward them. In a critique that may have foreshadowed Shawcross's later writing about another royal family, Ajami posited that Shawcross's sources, including the Shah's twin sister, [[Ashraf Pahlavi|Princess Ashraf]], were able to work their royal charms to disarm his reportorial skepticism.<ref name="TNR-1988"/>

===''Murdoch'' (1992)===
In a change from international affairs, Shawcross next wrote a biography of [[Rupert Murdoch]].  Its 1992 UK title was ''Rupert Murdoch: Ringmaster of the Information Circus;'' it was published in the US in 1993 as ''Murdoch: The Making of a Media Empire''. ''New York Times'' reviewer Herbert Mitgang commented there was a "red flag" present: Shawcross had let Murdoch read a draft before publication, violating "an unwritten rule for the most esteemed American biographers."<ref name="NYT-1-27-93">{{cite news |last1=Mitgang |first1=Herbert |title=Books of The Times; The Inside Tales of a Media Empire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/27/books/books-of-the-times-the-inside-tales-of-a-media-empire.html |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 January 1993}}</ref> The pundit [[Andrew Sullivan]], in ''The New York Times Book Review'', described ''Murdoch'' as "what a Murdoch paper would surely call a suck-up."<ref name="NYT-1-17-93">{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Andrew |title=A Press Lord Without a Rosebud |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/17/books/a-press-lord-without-a-rosebud.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=17 January 1993}}</ref>

Despite the issues raised, Mitgang's review was generally positive, while Sullivan wrote that Shawcross, albeit "unwittingly", "achieved something very valuable", in "expos[ing] the banality of a highly sophisticated and successful businessman", and "plac[ing] the real issue behind the story of Mr. Murdoch's career—the nature of a democratic culture—away from the petty demonization of an entrepreneur and on the larger forces that have determined his fate."<ref name="NYT-1-27-93"/><ref name="NYT-1-17-93"/> ''The Economist'' made a similar point in a more straightforward way: "Although this is a fine, superbly-researched and vivid book on the Murdoch enigma, the enigma remains."<ref name="ECON-1992">{{cite news |title=Paper Money (book reviews) |newspaper=The Economist |date=26 September 1992}}</ref>

The 1992 publication of ''Murdoch'' raised a brief flurry in the literary world. ''[[The New Yorker]]'', then edited by [[Tina Brown]], published a short ''Talk of the Town'' piece by [[Francis Wheen]], wondering how "could Willie Shawcross, who made his name in the seventies with ''Sideshow'', an indignant expose of Henry Kissinger's destruction of Cambodia, become Murdoch's hagiographer?"<ref name="NYER">{{cite news |last1=Wheen |first1=Francis |title=Seduction |url=https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1992-10-12#folio=042 |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=New Yorker |date=12 October 1992}}</ref> David Cornwell, better known by his ''nom de plume'' [[John le Carré]], wrote a responsive letter in defence of Shawcross, calling Wheen's essay "one of the ugliest pieces of partisan journalism that I have witnessed in a long life of writing."<ref name="Newsweek-1992">{{cite news |title=The Letter She Wouldn't Print |url=https://www.newsweek.com/letter-she-wouldnt-print-200084 |access-date=25 November 2019 |work=Newsweek |date=25 October 1992 |language=en}}</ref> When Brown said she would only publish Cornwell's letter if he cut it to one paragraph, he released it to the press instead, and the contretemps drew much media attention.<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL"/><ref name="NEWSWEEK">{{cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Russell |title=When Harry Met Willie |url=https://www.newsweek.com/when-harry-met-willie-200072 |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=Newsweek |date=25 October 1992 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="WP-1992">{{cite news |last1=Streitfeld |first1=David |last2=Trueheart |first2=Charles |title=THE TIFF OF THE TOWN |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/10/15/the-tiff-of-the-town/e331897a-cdc6-42f6-ae80-72edf17625e2/ |access-date=4 November 2019 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=15 October 1992}}</ref><ref name="NYT-10-15-92">{{cite news |last1=Carmody |first1=Deirdre |title=Tina Brown Accused Of Misusing New Yorker |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/15/arts/tina-brown-accused-of-misusing-new-yorker.html |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=15 October 1992}}</ref>

===''Deliver Us From Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords, and a World of Endless Conflict'' (2000)===
''Deliver Us From Evil'' overviews the work of the [[United Nations]] during the 1990s to ameliorate situations in many of the world's trouble spots of that decade, largely as seen through the eyes of [[Kofi Annan]], whom Shawcross accompanied on his travels.<ref name="ECON-5-13-2000">{{cite news |first=A |last=nonymous |url=https://www.economist.com/review/2000/05/11/other-mens-wars |title=Other men's wars (book review) |work=Economist |date=13 May 2000}}</ref>

Reviews were mixed to negative.  Some meted out limited praise: "highly readable, if at times repetitive and scattershot,"<ref name="BOOT">{{cite news |last1=Boot |first1=Max |author-link1=Max Boot|title=Paving the Road to Hell (book review) |work=Foreign Affairs |date=March–April 2000}}</ref> "admirably fair in his judgments,"<ref name="ECON-5-13-2000"/> and "thoughtful but inconclusive" as well as "a useful reality check for all those well-meaning people who clamor for the United Nations to do something."<ref name="WP-3-26-2000">{{cite news |last1=Lippman |first1=Thomas W. |author-link1=Thomas Lippman|title=No End of Trouble (book review) |newspaper=Washington Post |date=26 March 2000}}</ref>

At the most negative end of the spectrum, a capsule review in ''The New Yorker'' concluded: "Shawcross's reporting here is often secondhand; his prose is dreary; and his thinking (which frequently takes refuge in anti-Americanism) is lazy. The result is an insult to the gravity of the issues he purports to address, and—worse—to the anguish of the world's politically endangered peoples."<ref name="NYER-4-24-2000">{{cite news |title=Briefly Noted |first=A |last=nonymous |url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2000-04-24#folio=218 |access-date=22 November 2019 |work=New Yorker |date=24 April 2000}}</ref>  Shawcross's optimistic attitude "as a booster for the UN" was criticised as unwarranted by reviewers from left and right, with all arguing the UN has a long record of failures.<ref name="NYER-4-24-2000"/><ref name="ECON-5-13-2000"/><ref name="BOOT"/> His identifying Cambodia as a UN success story drew particular quibbles,<ref name="WP-3-26-2000"/><ref name="KAGAN">{{cite news |last1=Kagan |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Kagan|title=Power Failure (book review) |work=Commentary |date=April 2000}}</ref> while several found fault with the book's analytical conclusions (or, more precisely, its lack thereof).<ref name="WP-3-26-2000"/><ref name="KAGAN"/>

[[Robert Kagan]], reviewing it for ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'', labelled ''Deliver Us From Evil'' "little more than an exercise in liberal handwringing."<ref name="KAGAN"/>

[[Terence O'Brien (New Zealand diplomat)|New Zealand diplomat Terence O'Brien]] said it was excellent first-hand history which "is unlikely soon to be bettered", terming his book sharp and comprehensive. "Shawcross enjoys a reputation as a chronicler of the blemishes in modern international behaviour&nbsp;... The response of the so-called international community to the continuing rash of internal conflict is subjected to clinical appraisal".<ref name="tonzh">{{cite news |last1=O'Brien |first1=Terence |author-link1=Terence O'Brien (New Zealand diplomat)|title=William Shawcross: Deliver Us From Evil |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=150610 |work=New Zealand Herald |date=9 September 2000}}</ref>

===''Allies'' (2003)===
Like other Shawcross books, ''Allies'' was published under two different subtitles, in a 2003 hardback as "The U.S., Britain, and Europe in the Aftermath of the Iraq War", and in a 2005 paperback as "Why the West Had to Remove Saddam."  The book has been described as a polemic, rather than a work of journalism, with some commentators observing that, unlike other books by Shawcross, it has no footnotes.<ref name="NYT-1-11-04"/><ref name="NS"/><ref name="ECONOMIST-2004">{{cite news |title=Dear friends; the Iraq War (book review) |newspaper=The Economist |date=31 January 2004}}</ref> One critic wrote of Shawcross as "a vocal supporter of President [[George W. Bush]]'s [[War on Terror]] and praises [[Tony Blair]]'s interventionist policies in Iraq and [[Afghanistan]], writing off criticism of the two leaders as hysterical."<ref name="BRIT-COUNCIL"/>

Regarding Shawcross's position in ''Allies'' compared to his prior positions, especially in ''Sideshow'', the reviewer in ''The New York Times'' asked "What's going on here?" while the conservative U.S. journals ''[[The National Review]]'' and ''The American Spectator'' were surprised and laudatory.<ref name="NYT-1-11-04"/><ref name="NR">{{cite news |title=The Shawcross Redemption |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2004/01/shawcross-redemption/ |access-date=4 November 2019 |work=National Review |date=29 January 2004}}</ref><ref name="AS-2004">{{cite news |last1=Regnery |first1=Alfred S. |title=Our New Best Friend (book review) |work=The American Spectator |date=March 2004}}</ref>  ''The National Review'' wrote, "Shawcross has written an outstanding justification of the Anglo-American effort to drive [[Saddam Hussein]] from power. It is an exemplary piece of moral clarity and fine writing."<ref name="NR"/>

===''Justice and the Enemy: Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed'' (2011)===
''Justice and the Enemy'' considered the [[George W. Bush]] administration's post-[[September 11 attacks|9/11]] military commissions in light of the [[Nuremberg trials]].  In it, according to the law professor and former U.S. Justice Department official [[Jack Goldsmith]], Shawcross "provides a deeply sympathetic account of how" the Bush administration resolved "difficult choices and trade-offs in deciding how to bring justice to the perpetrators of 9/11."<ref name="NYT-1-20-12">{{cite news |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Jack |title=Justice And the Enemy – Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – By William Shawcross – Book Review |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/books/review/justice-and-the-enemy-nuremberg-9-11-and-the-trial-of-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-by-william-shawcross-book-review.html |access-date=3 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=20 January 2012}}</ref>

''The Economist''{{'}}s review of ''Justice and the Enemy'' found the book lacked "original research on [[al-Qaeda]]", its Nuremberg comparisons unhelpful, and its author "keener to score points against all those who roundly condemn President George Bush's strategy" than to draw useful conclusions.<ref name="ECON-2012">{{cite news |title=A tricky business; prosecuting al-Qaeda (book review) |newspaper=The Economist |date=14 January 2012}}</ref> ''[[The Independent]]'' described it as a "shameless justification of the policies of the Bush administration" in which "justice is a surreal concept totally subordinate to the "security" of the US".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sardar |first1=Ziauddin |title=Justice and the Enemy, by William Shawcross |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/justice-and-enemy-william-shawcross-7545608.html |access-date=31 January 2021 |work=The Independent |date=9 March 2012 |ref=Indyreview}}</ref>

==Private life and honours==

In 1970, he married the writer and art critic [[Marina Warner]]; their son, born in 1977, [[Conrad Shawcross|Conrad]], is an artist. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neKm1X6YPY0C&dq=marina+warner+divorce+1979&pg=PA1533 |title=The International Who's Who 2004 – Europa Publications |page=1533 |access-date=2016-04-08|isbn=978-1-85743-217-6 |last1=Publications |first1=Europa |year=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref>

Shawcross married Michal Levin in 1981.<ref name="ST2009">{{cite news|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/article185266.ece#next|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827091025/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/article185266.ece#next|archive-date=27 August 2016|title=Profile: William Shawcross|work=The Sunday Times|date=20 September 2009|access-date=26 August 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Their daughter, [[Eleanor Shawcross|Eleanor]], is a political advisor, working as director of the [[Number 10 Policy Unit]] under [[Rishi Sunak]] from 2022,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Mikey |date=23 January 2023 |title=EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson loan probe into BBC chair to be run by father of Rishi Sunak's policy chief |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-loan-probe-bbc-29033019 |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=The Daily Mirror}}</ref> and is married to [[Simon Wolfson|Simon, The Lord Wolfson]] a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[life peer]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7716651/George-Osbornes-Treasury-team-the-power-behind-the-coalition-government.html |title=George Osborne's Treasury team – the power behind the coalition government |newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=2016-04-08}}</ref>

Shawcross married his third wife, [[Olga Polizzi]], in 1993.<ref name="ST2009"/> They live in a [[Listed building|Grade I]] listed Elizabethan mansion called Friston Place, at [[East Dean and Friston|East Dean]], in [[East Sussex]].<ref name="CowleyProf1" /><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1353299|desc=Friston Place, Sussex|access-date=28 January 2023}}</ref> [[Alex Polizzi]], the [[hotelier]] and [[television presenter]] is his stepdaughter.

Shawcross was appointed [[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] (CVO) in the [[2011 New Year Honours]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=59647|date=31 December 2010|page=3|supp=y}}</ref> and [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[2023 Birthday Honours]] for public service.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=64082|supp=y|page=B2|date=17 June 2023}}</ref>

He has lifelong ties to [[Cornwall]] where he is a keen campaigner in the preservation and protection of local Conservation Areas. His campaign succeeded in obtaining [[Listed building|Grade II]] listing for [[St Mawes]]'s historic and endangered sea wall.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norwood |first=Graham |date=2008-02-08 |title=The cream of Cornwall |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e3bfc4f0-d50c-11dc-9af1-0000779fd2ac |access-date=2018-09-03 |website=Financial Times}}</ref>

In 2009, Shawcross signed a petition in support of film director [[Roman Polanski]], calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his [[Roman Polanski sexual abuse case|1977 sexual abuse case]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |title=Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski ! |date=10 November 2009 |website=La Règle du jeu |language=fr |access-date=29 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210829153459/https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |archive-date=29 August 2021}}</ref>

==Publications==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Dubcek |date=1990 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-72871-7 |orig-date=1970 |edition=Revised |location=New York |oclc=22308589}}
*''Watergate: The Full Inside Story'' (co-author, 1973)
*''Crime and Compromise: Janos Kadar and the Politics of Hungary since Revolution'' (1974)
*''Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia'' (1979), ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' Editor's Choice Book of the Year, awarded a [[George Polk Award]]
*''The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience'' (1984), ''New York Times'' Editor's Choice Book of the Year, awarded the [[Freedom From Hunger]] Media Award
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=The Shah's last ride: the fate of an ally |date=1988 |isbn=0-671-55231-7 |location=New York |oclc=17918074}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Kowtow! |date=1989 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=0-7011-3628-6 |location=London |oclc=21336335}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Murdoch: the making of a media empire |orig-date=1992 |date=1997 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-83015-9 |edition=Rev. & updated |location=New York |oclc=37192707}} (also published as ''Rupert Murdoch: Ringmaster of the Information Circus'') (1992)
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Cambodia's new deal: a report |date=1994 |publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |isbn=0-87003-051-5 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=30359285}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Deliver us from evil: peacekeepers, warlords, and a world of endless conflict |date=2000 |isbn=0-684-83233-X |location=New York |oclc=42911763}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Queen and country |date=2002 |publisher=M&S |isbn=0-7710-8056-5 |location=Toronto |oclc=48494129}}
*''Queen and Country: The Fifty-Year Reign of Elizabeth II'' (2002)
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Allies: the U.S., Britain, Europe, and the war in Iraq |date=2004 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=1-58648-216-5 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=53442992}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: the official biography |date=2009 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4050-4859-0 |location=London |oclc=373481915}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shawcross |first=William |title=Justice and the enemy: Nuremberg, 9/11, and the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed |date=2011 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-58648-975-5 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=676727040}}
*''Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother'' (2012) (editor)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/william-shawcross.html|title=Books by William Shawcross and Complete Book Reviews|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-09-03|language=en}}</ref>
* ''The Servant Queen and the King She Serves'' (2016)
{{refend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.williamshawcross.org/index.php?page=home Official website.]
*[https://www.gov.uk/government/people/william-shawcross William Shawcross] on [[Gov.uk|GOV.UK]]
*[https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/about-us/ Official page] as [[Commissioner for Public Appointments]].
*[https://www.theguardian.com/profile/william-shawcross William Shawcross] on ''[[The Guardian]]''
*[https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/william-shawcross Biography of William Shawcross] by the [[British Council]].
*[https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2003/12/ns-man-of-the-year-william-shawcross Profile] for ''[[The New Statesman]]'' (2003).
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/william-shawcross-profile-from-scourge-of-nixon-to-establishment-lackey-10487534.html Profile] for ''[[The Independent]]'' (2015).
*[https://www.thenational.scot/news/23282318.william-shawcross-head-bbc-probe-richard-sharp/ Profile] for ''[[The National (Scotland)]]'' (2022).

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Suzi Leather]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales|Charity Commission]]|years=2012–2018}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawcross, William}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British people of English descent]]
[[Category:People educated at St. Aubyns School]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:20th-century British biographers]]
[[Category:21st-century British biographers]]
[[Category:Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuse]]
[[Category:Shawcross family|William Shawcross]]
[[Category:British male biographers]]
[[Category:Forte family]]
[[Category:Sons of life peers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]