Marvin J. Wolf

The son of a junk man and a mad housewife, Marvin J. Wolf worked as a dishwasher, sold encyclopedias door-to-door, taught hand-to-hand combat in the US Army Ranger School, served as a basic training drill instructor, and as an infantry squad leader--all before his 21st birthday. In 1965 he reenlisted and maneuvered himself into a combat photographer's assignmen. The following year, in Vietnam, he was awarded a battlefield commission. Over the next eight years he served as a company commander, a senior staff officer, and as the Seventh Infantry Division Public Affairs Officer. Following his discharge, Wolf spent the next decade as a photojournalist. After gaining sole custody of his teenage daughter, Wolf segued into writing, beginning with magazine work. His first book, The Japanese Conspiracy (Empire Books, New York, 1983) led to a career switch and a dozen more books, including collaborations with ABC Television founder Leonard H. Goldenson, Native American leader Russell Means, and former South Vietnamese prime minister General Nguyen Cao Ky. In 2001, Wolf took up screenwriting. (Ladies Night, USA Network, 2005) In 2011 he wrote his first novel. He lives in Los Angeles with his now forty-something daughter and a snobbish terrier-chihuahua mix.