Publisher Howgate Publishing celebrates its milestone of 10 years of publishing boutique, selective, contemporary military books.
Portsmouth, United Kingdom, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — This year, Howgate Publishing celebrates its 10th anniversary. The boutique military publisher has become internationally known for producing some of the most relevant, practical, and story-rich contemporary military books in circulation today.
Founded in 2015 by Kirstin Howgate Wallace, Howgate Publishing was born from deep roots in military life and a clear recognition of a gap in the publishing world: the need for more military thinking, not philosophizing, but lived experience, shared insight, and applied strategy. Now, to resonate with the milestone year, Howgate will be publishing 10 books this year, seven already published and three more in production. Howgate is firmly established as the home of the right military books, trusted by defense professionals, military academics, and policy thinkers alike.
Howgate Publishing
“We’ve always focused on commissioning the right books,” said Kirstin. “That means books that offer practical insight, often grounded in personal experience, that are directly useful to those in the profession of arms. Our authors write from deep experience, not ivory towers.”
Before launching Howgate Publishing, Kirstin worked in publishing for nearly two decades, but it was her personal and professional proximity to the military, living in a military area, married to a servicemember that shaped her vision for the company. Immersed in military culture, she kept hearing the same refrain: “We need more military thinking.”
This wasn’t about armchair theory; it was about real-world challenges. “I started to meet people who all said the same thing: there’s too much philosophizing and not enough that’s practical or usable in today’s defense context,” Kirstin stated. “That was the spark.”
Her early access to senior professionals at a military academy helped form the foundation of the Howgate mission: to publish books that bridge academic and operational insight, intellectually rigorous but deeply grounded in the lived realities of military service. One of the first books released by Howgate, Military Virtues, set the tone. Edited by Professor David Whetham, Don Carrick, and Professor Michael Skerker, the book gathered reflections from nearly 30 military professionals on 14 essential virtues, like courage, integrity, and humility, accompanied by real-world case studies. The result was a powerful blend of ethics and action.
“That book continues to resonate today because people remember stories,” Kirstin said. “Theory fades, but stories stay with you. I can still recall entries from that book because they were so personal and human.”
Another landmark came in 2022 with the success of Understanding Urban Warfare by John Spencer and Liam Collins, commissioned in 2021 and published just as the global defense conversation was shifting toward the complexities of urban operations. The book, which evolved from Spencer’s acclaimed podcast, offers insight into how urban terrain, from megacities to smart cities, impacts modern military engagement. It also includes storytelling from urban battles, such as the battle of Mogadishu, from some of the Rangers that were there. “Books last. They’re tangible. And the timing of this one was exactly right,” Kirstin explained.
In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Howgate is highlighting its ‘10 Military Must-Reads,’ a carefully curated series of titles that represent the best of practical military thinking. While major publishers churn out dozens of titles, Howgate’s boutique model means every book is selected, developed, and positioned with care.
Kirstin further shared, “Going forward, we’ll aim for 10 key titles each year. That’s still a small list, but one we want defense professionals to rely on. If you only read 10 books a year, let it be these.”
And as Kirstin notes, this publishing house is a home for authors as much as readers. She says: “My authors are often ex-serving personnel who are deeply thoughtful. Many of them have become friends, collaborators, even partners in shaping new collections under our imprint.”
In a time of global uncertainty, Kirstin argues that the solution isn’t always more spending; it’s smarter thinking. She states, “There’s a lot of talk about buying new tech and investing more in defense, but sometimes we just need to do more with what we already have. Some of our books make exactly that point. Train smarter. Think better. Understand the landscape. That’s what our books help you do.”
Looking ahead, Howgate is launching new collections, including one led by Peter Roberts on the military industry and another by Amos Fox, which is focused on military narratives, continuing the publisher’s commitment to storytelling as a way to explore not just what’s happened but what might come. “Storytelling is our way of discussing the future,” Kirstin stated. “It’s hard to write about what hasn’t happened yet, but stories help you imagine it, test it, and prepare for it.”
Media Contact
Name: Kirstin Howgate Wallace
Email: info@howgatepublishing.com
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