John M. Barry is the author of four previous books- Rising Tide- The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed Amer-ica; Power Plays- Politics, Football, and Other Blood Sports; The Transformed Cell- Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer (cowritten with Steven A. Rosenberg); and The Ambition and the Power- A True Story of Washington. He lives in New Orleans and Wash-ington, DC.