Michael Schein

"No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read."

- David McCullough

Michael Schein writes historical books that readers want to read!

Mr. Schein was born and raised in Vermont by two wonderful parents, enjoying hiking and skiing and developing a lifelong love of the outdoors. In high school he fell in love with writing thanks in part to the guidance of a special teacher, Gladys LaFlamme Colburn. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he studied history and political theory under John Tomsich, Steve Kapsch, Owen Ulph, and Maury Goldschmidt. Mr. Schein graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Reed; then attended law school at the University of Oregon, where he graduated with honors. While in college Mr. Schein visited Europe and Northern Africa twice, drove a cab, and jumped from a burning furniture factory.

After law school Mr. Schein returned to Vermont to clerk for the Vermont Supreme Court, then began practice as a trial lawyer with the firm of former Vermont Governor Philip H. Hoff, from whom he learned much about law and even more about people and social justice. He also met his bride-to-be on a blind date, and they've now been married over thirty years and raised two extraordinary daughters.

In 1988, Mr. Schein and his young family packed their possessions in a large U-Haul and returned to the Pacific Northwest - this time to live in Seattle. Within a day of arriving, Mr. Schein pulled a suit from a box and went to teach at the University of Puget Sound. He taught Law and Society and American Legal History for 15 years at UPS and Seattle University Law School. It was while preparing for class that he stumbled across a reference in a John Marshall biography to the scandalous case that is at the heart of JUST DECEITS, Mr. Schein's first novel, which became a #1 seller on Kindle in January of 2012.

Most recently, Mr. Schein is the author of JOHN SURRATT: THE LINCOLN ASSASSIN WHO GOT AWAY (forthcoming April 2015), the exciting historical nonfiction story of the mysterious Confederate Secret Service Agent who was Booth's closest associate for the four months prior to the assassination, but who managed to escape all punishment despite a worldwide manhunt. Surratt met with Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin and President Jefferson Davis just two weeks before the assassination, and may be the missing link between the Confederate high command and the eleventh-hour effort to decapitate the Union Government.

Mr. Schein is also the author of BONES BENEATH OUR FEET, a historical novel of Puget Sound, which traces the tragic story of Chief Leschi's battle to maintain his people's home and dignity.

Mr. Schein's writing has been recognized by three Pushcart Prize nominations, grants from Humanities Washington and King County 4Culture, and other awards. He is Director of the annual LiTFUSE Poets' Workshop, a past member of the Humanities Washington Speaker's Bureau, the ACLU of Washington Speaker's Bureau, former Executive Director of Tieton Arts & Humanities, and a former director of the Washington Poets Association. Michael has taught writing techniques and served as a panelist at Port Townsend Writers Conference, Pacific NW Writers' Association Annual Conference, Pacific NW Booksellers' Association, Write on the Sound, King County Libraries, and elsewhere. He lives east of Seattle in the Snoqualmie Valley, along the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.