Ian MacCormick (3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003), who wrote under the pseudonym Ian MacDonald, was a British music critic and author, best known for his detailed history of The Beatles and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

He briefly attended King's College, Cambridge, at first studying English, but soon transferring to Archeology and Anthropology. He dropped out after a year. While at Cambridge he was distantly acquainted with cult singer/songwriter Nick Drake. From 1972 to 1975 he was Assistant Editor of the NME. He began a songwriting collaboration as a lyricist with his brother's band Quiet Sun including future Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera. This collaboration was resumed in the late 1970s when MacDonald provided lyrics for the album Listen Now. Later, Brian Eno would help MacDonald produce Sub Rosa, an album of his own songs, and release it on Manzanera's record label.

In his book Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, first published in 1994, MacDonald carefully anatomised every record The Beatles made, drawing attention to broad themes, particular examples of inspiration and moments of human frailty alike. There is little shortage of books written about The Beatles. Revolution in the Head is widely regarded as one of the greatest books ever written about the Beatles and their music, partly due to the forensic song by song analysis and access to the original masters granted to MacDonald when researching it. Setting the music of the Beatles in a wider social-economic and political context adds to the richness of the writing and in turn the resonance of the music.