Paul Martin

Paul Martin has written a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction, dominated by historical themes. He also edited or contributed to a dozen books on history, culture, and science during his three decades with National Geographic, where he served his final ten years as the executive editor of the Society’s travel magazine. Besides two books written for National Geographic, Paul’s work has been published by HarperCollins, Prometheus Books, Gates & Bridges, and Level Best Books.

Paul’s career took him around the world. In Europe, he tramped the windswept barrens of England’s Dartmoor and explored the Continent’s great cities. In Asia, he traveled the length of Vietnam, browsed the Bangkok gold market, ventured along China’s Great Wall and down the Yangtze River, and slept in royal palaces and spied wild tigers in India. In Australia, he sailed Sydney’s magnificent harbor, and in Africa, he surveyed the tombs and temples of ancient Egypt, cruised the River Nile, and marveled at the treasures in the Cairo Museum of Antiquities.

Closer to home, he explored the towns, beaches, and mountains of Jamaica, witnessed the beginning of the historic Mariel Boatlift in Havana, and dived among sleeping sharks and climbed Maya ruins in Mexico’s Yucatán. He also backpacked extensively in Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, and he ran the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in a 17-foot wooden dory. A Vietnam veteran, Mensan, and onetime vineyard owner and winemaker, Paul lives near Washington, D.C. When not writing, he enjoys playing the acoustic guitars he’s built.