Several of his books have been optioned by Hollywood, including The Few which was selected as the Military Book Club's first-ever book of the year in 2006. Kershaw has also worked as a screenwriter and in television, penning an award-winning 2004 documentary for Arte on Bobby Kennedy. It was followed by other titles: The Few, 2006, the story of eight American pilots who fought illegally in the Battle of Britain Escape from the Deep, 2008, the tale of the only successful escape from a submerged American submarine, the USS Tang, without surface assistance in late October 1944 and The Envoy, 2010, an account of Raoul Wallenberg's rescue efforts in Hungary during the Holocaust, based on extensive interviews with survivors saved by Wallenberg. His next book, about the Battle of the Bulge, The Longest Winter, 2004, focused in particular on WWII's most decorated platoon, an I&R unit commanded by 20-year-old Lyle Bouck Jr. The resulting book, The Bedford Boys, 2003, became a New York Times best-seller. While writing a 2002 biography, Blood and Champagne, about Robert Capa, the celebrated war photographer, Kershaw came across the story of Bedford, Virginia and its sacrifice on D-Day, 6 June 1944, on Dog Green sector of Omaha beach.

Kershaw's journalism has appeared in many magazines and newspapers since 1990, varying from investigative pieces and reportage to interviews with subjects ranging from Frank Zappa, Alger Hiss and Gary Kasparov to the boxer Max Schmeling and dozens of WWII veterans. He taught history before working as a journalist for several British newspapers, including The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times. Born in York, England, in 1966, Kershaw attended University College, Oxford where he studied politics, philosophy and economics.

Escape from the Deep by Alex Kershaw