Marc Leepson is a journalist, historian and the author of six books, most recently *Desperate Engagement*. He has been a writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., and a free-lance writer since 1986. His writings have been published in *Preservation, Smithsonian, Military History, Civil War Times, America's Civil War, Vietnam magazine, the Washington Post, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Detroit News, Dallas Morning News, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, The Arizona Republic, St. Petersburg Times,* and *USA Today.* He also has written entries for *the Encyclopedia Americana, the Encyclopedia Americana Yearbook, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. *

Bethanne Patrick has always been an enthusiastic and engaged reader of books, so when she started writing about authors and publishing in 1996, she brought her own interest to the stories she told and the writers she interviewed. In 2001, after years of freelance writing, Patrick joined the team of *PAGES Magazine* as editor at large. In 2004 she launched the now defunct AOL Books Channel, reaching more readers than ever before through the largest web portal in the world and where her book critic channel, "The Book Maven," was born. Under "The Book Maven," Patrick started a blog for Publishers Weekly, became the moderator for Barnes & Noble's first online book club, "Centerstage," and became managing editor of "The WETA Book Studio" a project of WETA Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. Patrick also regularly writes for AARP, PEOPLE magazine, *The Washington Post* Book World, Barnes & Noble Review, and Bookreporter.com. She has also written a book for National Geographic entitled *An Uncommon History of Common Things*, out now. Currently, Patrick is working on a memoir entitled *Broken*.