James Giesler was born in Spain in 1964 and educated in England, where he obtained a law degree at the University of Exeter. He went on to spend 15 years as an investment banker and equity analyst across Western and Eastern European, Russian and Middle Eastern equity markets. His analytical background would later shape his approach to historical research: patient, methodical and driven by curiosity. 

He completed a masters degree in American Studies at the University of Seville in 2016. It was here where Giesler came across Francisco de Saavedra's published diaries and he was struck by the fact that Saavedra was virtually absent from mainstream accounts of the American Revolutionary War. 

The research on Saavedra for his dissertation at the University of Seville was the foundation for this book. This is his first book: the product of years of cross-border research and a deep personal commitment to telling the story of a man and a nation - Spain - too often overlooked in accounts of the war.