Shmuel Katz was born in South Africa in 1914. He moved to Palestine in 1936 but in 1939, invited by Vladimir Jabotinsky to come to London, he there founded the weekly Jewish Standard to promote the idea of a Jewish national army in the war against Nazi Germany. He returned to Palestine in 1946. A journalist, author, translator, historian, political activist, and book publisher, he has enjoyed a multifaceted career spanning many disciplines. A member of the High Command of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, member of the first Israeli Knesset, and advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1977, Katz has been intimately involved in the entire history of the modern State of Israel.

His books, written in both English and Hebrew and translated into other languages as well, include Days of Fire, Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine, Battletruth: The World and Israel, the Hollow Peace, and Lone Wolf: A Biography of Vladimir Gefen Publishing House (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky.