James D. Hornfischer is the author of three books, most recently Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal.

Ship of Ghosts (2006) is the story of the USS Houston (CA-30), which entered the annals of our most compelling naval mysteries when she was lost off Java early in World War II. The final radio message from her captain gave no hint of the odds his crew had faced—and told nothing of the ordeal the ship’s survivors would confront as slaves on the notorious Burma-Thailand Death Railway, the inspiration for the film The Bridge on the River Kwai. A New York Times bestseller and a Main Selection of the History Book Club and the Military Book Club, Ship of Ghosts was a 2007 winner of the U.S. Maritime Book Award.

Mr. Hornfischer is co-author of the NYTimes bestseller, Service by Marcus Luttrell.

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, author of Lone Survivor, tells the astonishing story of his return to the battlefield after Operation Redwing—as immortalized in his book and the feature film directed by Peter Berg—and offers powerful new details about his miraculous rescue. A thrilling war story, Service is a tribute to the warrior brotherhood—and to the idea that no one goes it alone.

Hornfischer is the author of two other acclaimed works of World War II naval history: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour and Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR’s Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors, both published by Bantam.

Hornfischer’s writing career has grown out of a lifelong interest in the Pacific war. He has appeared on television on The History Channel, Fox News Channel’s “War Stories with Oliver North” and C-SPAN’s “BookTV.” A frequent speaker on the subject of the war in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy, and the experience of America’s sailors in World War II, he frequently addresses veterans organizations, youth and civic groups, and professional naval organizations on the inspiring stories found in his books.

A native of Massachusetts, and a graduate of Colgate University and the University of Texas School of Law, Hornfischer is a member of the Naval Order of the United States, the Navy League, and was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as an “Admiral in the Texas Navy.” A former New York book editor, Hornfischer is president of the literary agency Hornfischer Literary Management, located in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife and their three children.

You can find out more about this amazing author at www.jameshornfischer.com