James McGrath Morris
 |
James McGrath Morris | |
|---|---|
 Morris at the 2015 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | 1954 |
| Occupation | Biographer |
| Nationality | American |
| Website | |
| jamesmcgrathmorris | |
James McGrath Morris (born 1954) is an American biographer.
Biography
Morris was raised in Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; and Washington, DC. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree at American University and a master's degree at George Washington University. He is married, with three children, and makes his home with his wife, Patty Morris, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[1]
Career
Morris has worked as a journalist, book publisher, high school teacher, and independent writer.[2] He began his professional career as a radio news broadcaster in New Mexico in 1978. He then spent a decade working for radio networks, newspapers, and magazines in Jefferson City, Missouri; Washington, DC; and Ithaca, New York.
In 1987, Morris began a nine-year stint working in publishing, running Seven Locks Press, a publisher of public affairs books in Washington, DC, and Public Interest Publications, a distributor of books and publications produced by Washington think-tanks and interest groups.
In 1996, Morris became a high school teacher and spent nine years working for Fairfax County Schools. During this time he wrote and published Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars and The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism.[3] The Rose Man of Sing Sing was selected as one of the best non-fiction books of 2004 by the Washington Post, optioned as a movie, and released as an audio book by Random House. Its critical and commercial success prompted Morris to leave teaching and work full-time as an independent writer.
In 2010, Morris published Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power.[4] The Wall Street Journal deemed was one of the five best books on American moguls and one of the five best books on American newspaper publishers[5] while Booklist placed on its 2010 list of the ten best biographies of the year.[6]
In 2009, with fellow biographers, Morris co-founded Biographers International Organization (BIO), a non-profit organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners.[7] In 2012, he was elected as its president.[8]
In 2014 he published Revolution by Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick," a Kindle Single.[9]
Morris's following book, Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press, was published in 2015 and widely reviewed and became a New York Times Bestseller [10][11]
The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War was published in 2017 by Da Capo Press.[12] He is currently writing a biography of Tony Hillerman.
Bibliography
- Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars, (Transaction, 2001)
- The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism, (Fordham University Press, 2004)
- Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power, (HarperCollins, 2010)
- Revolution by Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick, (Amazon Kindle Single, 2014)
- Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press, (Amistad/HarperCollins), 2015)
- The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War, (Da Capo/Hachette, 2017)
References
- ^ http://jamesmcgrathmorris.com/bio.html
- ^ http://jamesmcgrathmorris.com/bio.html
- ^ https://www.amazon.com/The-Rose-Man-Sing-Communications/dp/B005ZOKY1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373112276&sr=8-1&keywords=the+rose+man+of+sing+sing
- ^ https://www.amazon.com/Pulitzer-Life-Politics-Print-Power/dp/B006QS1TUK/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373112331&sr=1-2&keywords=pulitzer
- ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304636404577291580344932246
- ^ http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=4243142&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
- ^ http://biographersinternational.org/about/
- ^ http://biographersinternational.org/about/
- ^ https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-By-Murder-Goldman-Alexander-ebook/dp/B00K5SO2YM/
- ^ http://www.harpercollins.com/9780062198853/eye-on-the-struggle
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2015-03-01/race-and-civil-rights/list.html
- ^ The Ambulance Drivers.