Don A. Farrell has been researching the history of the Mariana Islands for forty years and has written ten previous books on the subject. Don is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, a U.S. Air Force veteran, a former high school teacher, and former chief of staff to the speaker of the Guam legislature. From 2011 to 2017, he served on the board of directors of the Humanities Council of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands; during that time, he spent four years as vice-chairman of the Commonwealth’s Historic Preservation Board. Don is the Marianas historian for Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours and regularly participates in its World War II tours of the Pacific and in symposia in the United States. He has lived in the Marianas since 1977 and currently resides on the island of Tinian.