About the Author
“What I find so compelling about Morris’ biographies is that they go beyond the facts and incidents of a life to the heart and soul of it,” says writer Douglas Preston, co-author, alongside Lincoln Child, of many best-selling mystery novels. “Sometimes that ‘heart and soul’ can be dark, like his portrayal of Hemingway in his fascinating book, The Ambulance Drivers. Or it can be gripping and complex, as in his epic biography of the brilliant and difficult Joseph Pulitzer. Morris goes deep, even while avoiding the pop psychology that sometimes mars biographical writing. I love his work.”
James McGrath Morris a biographer and writer of narrative non-fiction. His most recent book is Tony Hillerman: A Life. It will be available in a paperback edition in 2027. Currently he is at work on his sixth biography, the subject of which is the writer Wallace Stegner
His previous books include The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and A Friendship Made and Lost in War, the New York Times Bestselling Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press, which was awarded the Benjamin Hooks National Book Prize; Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power—which the Wall Street Journal deemed was one of the five best books on American moguls and Booklist placed on its 2010 list of the ten best biographies of the year; and, The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism—a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.
He is also the author of the Kindle Singles Revolution by Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick. and The Radio Operator: Robert Ford’s Last Stand in the Fight to Save Tibet.
Morris has written extensively for newspapers and magazines, as well as some academic journals. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he spent a decade as a journalist, a decade working in the book and magazine business, and a decade as a high school teacher. He is a founder of Biographers International Organization and New Mexico Writers.
He makes his home in Santa Fe, NM.