I was born and grew up in California, and later went to school at Trinity College, Dublin, and Columbia. After a first career as a law librarian on Wall Street, I became a writer. BURT LANCASTER: AN AMERICAN LIFE (Knopf, 2000) was my first book, followed by NATIVE AMERICAN SON: THE LIFE AND SPORTING LEGEND OF JIM THORPE (Knopf, 2010). I live in Virginia and New York. Writing narrative nonfiction is a grueling but rewarding task. My two biographies are serious, literary treatments of iconic Americans performing in two of the most popular American pastimes: the movies and sports. I relish going deep into the psyches and backgrounds of people who may be widely known in the popular culture but not truly understood or respected. Both Jim Thorpe and Burt Lancaster lived fascinating, eventful lives that left a formative mark on todays sports and movies, respectively. Their pursuit and achievement of excellencewith all the attendant struggles and triumphsis inspiring. And illuminating: popular culture is who we are, and the more we learn about its pioneers the more we can appreciate these universal passions of our timeand thus, ourselves. "