Howard B. Means

I'm a former schoolteacher (St. Albans School) who segued into journalism (Washingtonian magazine) and finally books. Three of my recent titles—THE AVENGER TAKES HIS PLACE, JOHNNY APPLESEED, and 67 SHOTS about the 1970 Kent State shootings—explored a common theme: people and events lost in their own mythologies. SPLASH! 10,000 Years of Swimming (2020), inspired by my experience as a competitive swimmer, linked ancient pictographs in the Egyptian desert with the modern Olympic swimmer speed-machines of today. My newest, ALMOST HOME: A Novel, is a fact-based fictional account of the last great tragedy of the Civil War, the sinking of the Sultana, a side-wheel steamer that was carrying home Union soldiers newly released from unspeakable Confederate prisons. For me, the book was both heart-breaking and a labor of love from the very first sentence.