James Thomas Huffstodt

Author James Huffstodt is an award-winning writer who began his career as a U. S. Army reporter while serving in South Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division in 1967. Upon returning to the States, he was a feature writer at the Ft. Bragg (North Carolina) post newspaper, "the Para-Glide." He earned a bachelor's degree in American and European history at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 1971. A year later, he received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana. While a general assignment reporter for the Ottawa (Illinois) Daily Times newspaper, Huffstodt's feature story on crime and drugs in a small town was named best feature story (small newspaper category) in Illinois for 1973 by United Press International (UPI). From 1973 through 1978, he worked in college public relations at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby and the University of Mississippi at Oxford. From 1980 until 2011, Huffstodt worked as an information/education specialist and media liaison, first for the state of Illinois and later for the state of Florida. His feature stories often appeared in the Florida Wildlife Magazine winning three writing awards from the Association of Conservation Information (ACI). His first published history, "Hard Dying Men" appeared in 1991 followed by "Everglades Lawmen" in 2000, which was named Book of the Year by the Florida Outdoor Writers' Association (FOWA). His most recent book is a biography of Union Brigadier General Martin Davis Hardin (1837-1923) titled, "Lincoln's Bold Lion." Huffstodt's various books are found in more than 125 libraries in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Australia, Singapore and Ecuador. These include Oxford University in England, Harvard, West Point, Stanford, Penn State University, Newberry Library-Chicago, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. Over the years, Huffstodt has written more than 100 magazine feature stories appearing in Civil War Times Illustrated, the Lincoln Herald, Sea Classics Magazine, Dog World Magazine, Tallahassee Magazine, and Florida Sportsmen Magazine. The author, 70, was born and grew up in the Illinois River town of LaSalle, located about 100 miles south of Chicago. He currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida with his wife, Judy, and family.