Max Morgan Witts & Gordon Thomas (1979)

Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts are the world's most widely read authors of books about disaster, revealing human behaviour under stress. A well-balanced team, Thomas describes himself as "emotional and frenetic" and Max Morgan Witts as "the most methodical man I know."

Ruin from the Air was their sixth joint venture. They tackled it in the same way as their other books, spending nearly two years and approximately $135,000 on research. Criss-crossing the United States, they interviewed every living member of the Enola Gay, then journeyed to Japan where interpreters helped in the delicate task of questioning survivors of the Hiroshima attack. They spent many hours poring over diaries, memoirs, letters and recently declassified documents. As a result, every fact used in the book has been corroborated by at least three sources. Finally they got to work on the 9.3 million words resulting from their research, and a little over four months later the book was completed.

Gordon Thomas, a Welshman and cousin of poet Dylan Thomas (he wrote his first book when he was eighteen, at his famous cousin's urging), now lives in Ireland with his wife and children. American-born Max Morgan Witts began his television career in Canada, as an actor, and later joined the BBC in London as a director and producer. He lives with his wife and family in London.