Daniel Allen Butler (born January 24, 1957) is an American author, historian, and playwright. His roots are Scots/Irish, his mother, Charlotte ("Lottie") (née Nabors, though some sources claim her maiden name was Briggs), and father, Harold, hailing from western Pennsylvania; the family's American roots lie in southern Virginia. Butler himself grew up in Lapeer, Michigan, a small town approximately 60 miles north of Detroit. He is the author of eight books (as of summer 2010):"Unsinkable"...the Full Story of RMS Titanic; The Lusitania: the Life, Loss and Legacy of an Ocean Legend,Warrior Queens: RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War Two, The Age of Cunard...A Transatlantic History, 1839-2003, Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War, The First Jihad: the Battle for Khartoum and the Dawn of Militant Islam, The Other Side of the Night-the Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic was Lost, and The Burden of Guilt: How Germany Shattered the Last Days of Peace, Summer 1914.
Butler spent eight years in the United States Army, six of them as an intelligence analyst. His service in the military was cut short after an altercation with a superior officer.
During his military service he began laying the foundation for a career as a military and maritime historian by taking every opportunity to do research into a wide range of subjects. He delved into museums, historical archives, public and private records and corporate archives in such diverse places as Dublin and Cobh (Queenstown), Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; the Clyde, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverkeithing and Perth, Scotland; and London, Liverpool and Southampton, England; Brussels and Mons, Belgium; and Berlin and Bonn, Germany.
Butler was working at the Sunrise Presbyterian Church in Miami Lakes, Florida, when his first and thus far most significant book, "Unsinkable" was published. This book covering the history of the Titanic, was published in March 1998, just as James Cameron's film was making its first-run in theaters. The book enjoyed considerable critical acclaim and public acceptance. Hailed for its breadth of scope as well as depth of analysis, "Unsinkable" went through four printings in as many months, and sold almost one hundred thousand copies in less than two years, reaching Number 3 on the UPI Bestseller List in late March, and Number 13 on the 'New York Times Bestseller List in mid-April of that year.
Butler’s second book, The Lusitania, was published by Stackpole in October 2000; Warrior Queens, was released by Stackpole in February 2002. In January 2004 his fourth book, The Age of Cunard was published under the Lighthouse Press imprint of ProStar Publications. July 2006 saw him return to print with Distant Victory, this new work published by Praeger International. The First Jihad, published by Casemate Publishing, was released in May 2007. Casemate is also the publisher of his newest work, The Other Side of the Night, released in May 2009. The Burden of Guilt: How Germany Shattered the Last Days of Peace, Summer 1914 (Casemate) was released in July 2010, and The Shadow of the Sultan's Realm...the Destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (Potomac Books) is scheduled for publication in January 2011. He is said to currently at work on The Field Marshal--the Life and Death of Erwin Rommel, a biography of the World War II German general, as well as a history of the Hundred Days, Waterloo: The Last Field of Glory.
Following the success of "Unsinkable" Butler became a commentator on maritime history, in particular the Titanic disaster, on both radio and television. He was featured in the Miramax Studio’s edition of their IMAX film Titanica (released on video in the fall of 1998) and in A & E’s documentary Beyond Titanic, first broadcast in September 1998. He has also been a featured speaker at the National Archives in Washington DC, the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA, and in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as well as a guest lecturer for Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and Cunard.
A stage play by Butler based on his book The Other Side of the Night was published by White Thistle Press in the fall of 2008. It is the story of the "Californian Incident", a controversial episode which occurred during the sinking of the Titanic when another ship, the Californian, was alleged to be less than 15 km (ten miles) from the sinking liner and deliberately ignored her distress signals. A second stage play, Roses in Her Cell, based on the last days of the life of English nurse Edith Cavell was published by the same press in January 2009.
In March 2010, the BBC Worldwide acquired the television rights to Butler's book The Other Side of the Night. David Attwood will direct the project, though it has not yet been disclosed whether the production will be an extended telemovie or a three-part miniseries. Butler has been retained as the historical/technical advisor for the project; there has been no word on whether he will be writing the script.
