More About the Author
I was born in Los Angeles and reared in a family of composers and writers. My grandfather, M.K. Jerome, was a Warner Brothers' songwriter whose credits included Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and many more classic films. His songs "Some Sunday Morning" (from San Antonio) and "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" (from "Hollywood Canteen") were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Song. My uncle, Stuart Jerome, was a veteran television writer from the 1950s until his death in 1983. He wrote for "Highway Patrol," Science Fiction Theatre," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "M Squad" and "The Fugitive." This background had a profound effect on how I write history. I'm a storyteller who approaches great historical events cinematically, reconstructing through a dramatic narrative the lives of Americans forever changed by historical events.
My first two books deals with how America's secret government, embodied by Harry S. Truman Federal Employee Loyalty Program and the license given to the FBI, ruined the lives of career diplomat John Carter Vincent (China Scapegoat) and government economist William Remington (Un-American Activities). Both also discussed the role played by the FBI during the McCarthy era. My next book, The Informant, sheds light on the FBI's secret informant system, used widely against the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements in the 1960s.
In 2006, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. invited me to write about John Tyler, our tenth President, for The American Presidents Series, published by Times Books.To my surprise, I discovered how a forgotten 19th century U.S. President, John Tyler, also used secret government agents to further his policies, planting the seeds which later grew into the Imperial Presidency, ruining the lives of my 20th century subjects. John Tyler was published in December, 2008, and was an alternate selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Boook Club, and the Military Book Club. Currently, I'm writing a history of the Voting Rights Act for Basic Books' "Basic Issues" series.
