Steve Wiegand is an award-winning journalist and history writer. His 35-year journalism career was spent at the San Diego Evening Tribune, where he was chief political writer; San Francisco Chronicle, where he was state capitol bureau chief, and Sacramento Bee, where he was a special projects writer and politics columnist.

Wiegand is the author or co-author of 10 books, including The Dancer, the Dreamers and the Queen of Romania; U.S. History for Dummies, which is currently in its fourth edition and has been published in both Chinese and German; the Mental Floss History of the World; Papers of Permanence; Lessons from the Great Depression for Dummies, and The American Revolution for Dummies. His newest book, The Uncommon Life of Danny O’Connell, will be out from Bancroft Press in Summer 2023.

He is a graduate of Santa Clara University, with a bachelor’s degree in American history and literature, and has a master’s degree in mass communications from San Jose State University.

He lives in Arizona, where he enjoys playing poker and the harmonica, although rarely at the same time.