About the Author

Roger Van Noord worked as a reporter and in various editor positions at the Flint Journal, where he retired as managing editor. He was a longtime colleague of Al MacLeese at the paper and, for a time, worked on the copy desk under him. Van Noord also is the author of another biography, "Assassination of a Michigan King: The Life of James Jesse Strang," published by the University of Michigan Press. He and his wife live in Michigan with an Irish terrier that loves salad fixings and apples.