Scribe lands Simon Akam's analysis of British Army

Scribe is to publish The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11 by Simon Akam next month. 

Publisher Henry Rosenbloom acquired world English rights to the book. Described as "revelatory", the non-fiction work examines the British Army's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 20 years. 

Scribe will publish the book in hardback on 11th February. Endorsed by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British ambassador to Afghanistan, and Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Road, Akam's title promises to offer a new perspective on the British Army's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Journalist Akam spent a year in the army when he was 18, and has returned a decade later to see how the institution had changed, spending more than three years researching the book and conducting more than 260 interviews. The synopsis states: "Ultimately his book examines the relevance of the armed forces today—their social, economic, political and cultural role. "

Akam held a Gap Year Commission in the British Army before attending Oxford University. He won a Fulbright scholarship to study at Columbia Journalism School, and in 2010 won the professional strand of the Guardian’s International Development Journalism Competition. He has worked for the New York Times, Reuters and Newsweek, and his writing has appeared in publications including the Economist, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, Outside, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, New Statesman, tParis Review, and New Republic. He co-hosts the bi-monthly writing podcast "Always Take Notes", with Rachel Lloyd.