Publisher's Biographical Note:

'"Archie" Macdonell, born in India, started writing after being invalided out of the Army. By 1919 he was contributing brilliant criticism to the London Mercury. Then his humorous novel England, Their England was published; he found himself famous almost overnight. Other entertaining novels followed; he ventured into writing history, with Napoleon and his Marshals, and showed his versatility in many directions. In the early months of the second (sic) World War he made frequent broadcasts, but his promising career ended suddenly with his death from heart-failure in 1941.'

From the cover of the Pan paperback edition of The Crew of the Anaconda (1950, first published 1940).

There is a brief biography on Wikipedia, and a more complete biography on Everything2.

An on-line copy of Macdonell's account of his 1934 travels around the USA, A Visit to America, can be found here.

An on-line version of Macdonell's England, Their England, requiring a paid-for subscription, is available on Questia.