George Loring

George Loring.

George Loring is a British historian, the author of two books cited in the bibliography of For Want of a Nail . . ., both on North American history. Loring's 1956 book The Right Man: Gilpin in Command, is characterized by Robert Sobel on page 80 as "exaggerating" the abilities of Henry Gilpin, in contrast to William Cocke's Caesar in Broadcloth. A 1969 book called Origins of the Rocky Mountain War (listed as edited by Loring in a footnote on page 126 but as written by him in the bibliography) is cited in Sobel's discussion of whether Gilpin ordered C.N.A. forces to attack Mexican forces on 4 September 1845, a clash which led to full-scale war. "Most historians," says Sobel citing Loring and others, "now believe the Mexicans, acting without orders from Mexico City, fired the first shot".

In For All Nails, Loring is an Englishman and is Minister of Education in the cabinet of Prime Minister Geoffrey Gold in the 1970's. Gold seeks Loring's expertise on North American national psychology in formulating his diplomatic strategy in the aftermath of the Christmas Bomb.