Green is the son of the saxophonist and writer Benny Green and actress Toni Kanal, and the brother of saxophonist and BBC Radio presenter Leo Green. He read English Literature[16] at St John's College, Oxford. Subsequently, he read for an AM in Jewish Studies at Harvard University, and a PhD in Comparative History at Brandeis University, where he was the Mandel Fellow in the Humanities.[17]
Green is the author of a biography of his father, Benny Green: Words and Music (2000), and editor of the collection Such Sweet Thunder: Benny Green on Jazz (2001). His first history book, The Double Life of Dr. Lopez: Spies, Shakespeare and the Plot to Poison Elizabeth I (2003) was described in The Sunday Times of London as 'popular history at its best'. Green's second history book, Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad 1869-1899 (2007; UK title Armies of God) was acclaimed in media as varied as Foreign Affairs and Entertainment Weekly. In 2022, Green wrote The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848-1898 which was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Green has provoked controversy with articles on Jewish identity, criticising Joe Biden's agenda as "bad for the Jews"[26] In response to Green's analysis, David Aaronovitch said that Green's politics are "Lindberghian" and warned that Green's characterisation of Jews is inaccurate and itself fosters antisemitism. Aaronovitch took special issue with Green criticising Biden for formally recognising the Armenian genocide, since it damaged relations with Turkey, arguing that all Jews should support recognising genocides against people, regardless of impact.[27]
Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1898, Free Press, January 2007, ISBN0-7432-8071-7, 304p. (also known as "Armies of God: Islam and Empire on the Nile, 1869-1899")[28]
Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848-1898. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2022