Steve was born in Arkansas, raised in Texas, and educated at Yale. After college, he spent several years in Seattle and Montana, where he divided his time between writing about politics and doing politics. He twice ran for local office in Helena, Montana, and twice lost. (The first time was close; the second, not so close.) Since then, he has focused on writing.
He wrote The Unquiet Grave because he was disturbed by the grim neglect that prevails in much of Indian Country. After reading Peter Matthiessen’s monumental In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983), Steve wondered what had been uncovered about the struggle between the FBI and the American Indian Movement in the years since. The short answer: not much. He intended The Unquiet Grave to fill part of the void.
He began work on A Kidnapping in Milan in 2007. (His first task was to learn enough Italian so that he could read the court documents in the case.) For why he wrote the book, click here.
Steve is married to Jennifer Hendricks, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee. She represented Steve in successful lawsuits against the FBI to release documents that formed the basis for The Unquiet Grave. The Hendrickses have a young son and an old dog.
