Thom Hatch is an award-winning, popular American author and novelist who specializes in the history of the American West, the American Civil War, and the Plains Indian Wars. [ Thom grew up on Grand Island, New York, and graduated from North Olmsted High School in North Olmsted, Ohio. He honorably served in the United States Marine Corps, including deployment to Vietnam for 13 months. He then became a columnist for the Erie, Pennsylvania, Times-News and worked as a radio announcer during the late 1960s. In 1975, he moved to Colorado where he writes books, contributes to national publications, such as American Heritage, America's Civil War, True West, and Western Horseman, as well as teaches school. He has served as consultant and appeared on screen as an expert commentator for History Channel and PBS documentaries--including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" for PBS's The American Experience. He is regularly invited to speak at colleges, seminars, and civic and historic organizations. Hatch lives with his artist wife and teenage daughter in the rural West.