John J. Miller writes for National Review, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He is the author of several books, a contributing editor of Philanthropy magazine, and a consultant to grantmaking foundations.

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How I became a writer
National Review Online biography
Listen to my NRO podcasts — author interviews, updated weekly
My NRO blogs appear sporadically on The Corner
Wikipedia entry (no, I didn’t write it)

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My early life is kind of like the line from that Journey song: “born and raised in south Detroit.” Except that I was born in east Detroit and raised on the west side. Near as I can tell, there’s no such thing as “south Detroit,” unless it’s Windsor, Ontario.

I went to high school in Florida because that’s where my dad’s job took the family for a few years. Then I headed back north, to the University of Michigan, apparently because my natural habitat calls for eight months of winter. I majored in English, edited the Michigan Review, and became engaged to my girlfriend on the Diag. We were married a year later and now have three kids. The oldest is named after a former Detroit Red Wing.

Following graduation, I moved to Washington, D.C. and worked at The New Republic. Then I held a couple of think-tank jobs and wrote my first book, The Unmaking of Americans. In 1998, I joined the staff of National Review. As a journalist, I’ve interviewed the president in the Oval Office, visited NORAD headquarters in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain, and learned how to use a stone-age throwing weapon called an atlatl.

I wrote another book, Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France, co-authored by Mark Molesky, an old friend from the Michigan Review. The experience made me a proficient teller of French jokes. In truth, I love the French: They’re always there when they need us. Also, I’m one-quarter French Canadian.

Next came A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America–a book of enormous interest to a small number of influential people. It led to my becoming a consultant with a pair of foundations, Searle Freedom Trust and the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation.

Even before joining National Review, I was at work on my first novel, The First Assassin. For years, it was the project I kept putting aside as deadlines loomed and children were born. Yet hardly a day passed in which I didn’t give it at least a fleeting thought. I finished it recently. The book is a historical thriller, set primarily in 1861 Washington.

I’m currently writing my next book, a work of history about sports and politics.

I live with my family in Prince William County, Va.