Born in Buffalo, New York, on January 30, 1931, Allan Eckert rose from humble beginnings to become one of America's foremost self-trained naturalists and historians. Eckert's father, Edward, died when Allan was very young, and his mother, Ruth, took her son to Chicago, where he grew up in poverty. Eckert scrambled for a living during his young adulthood, taking a variety of jobs ranging from Air Force staff sergeant to cook, dishwasher, fireman, postman, private detective, farm and factory worker, and trapper. In between, he attended the University of Dayton and Ohio State University, and in 1955 he took his first job as a writer, editing the National Cash Register Company's factory newsletter.

Eckert writes many different types of books, including nonfiction about history and nature, historical novels, and science fiction. His first two books, The Great Auk (1963) and The Silent Sky: The Incredible Extinction of the...