Pete Earley (born September 5, 1951)[1] is an American journalist and author who has written non-fiction books and novels.

Pete Earley
Earley in May 2016
Born (1951-09-05) September 5, 1951 (age 72)
Occupation(s)Journalist, writer
Websitepeteearley.com

Career edit

Born in Douglas, Arizona,[1] Earley became a Washington Post reporter and also wrote books about the Aldrich Ames and John Walker espionage cases. His book Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town (1995), about the wrongful conviction of Walter McMillian in Alabama, won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Fact Crime Book in 1996.[2]

His book about the John Walker spy ring, Family of Spies, was a New York Times bestseller. It was adapted as a CBS miniseries starring Powers Boothe and Lesley Ann Warren. In 2007, Earley was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for his book Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, about a man seeking help for his son.[3]

His 2008 book, Comrade J, is about Russian SVR defector Sergei Tretyakov.[4]

Family edit

Pete's older sister, Alice Lee Earley, died at the age of 17 on June 14, 1966, after being hit by a car while riding Pete's scooter.[5] (Pete was 14 years old and at church camp when his sister was killed.)[5] Years later, in a 1985 Washington Post article called "To Find a Sister" (1985), Earley wrote about Alice's death and its effect on his life. (As part of it, he interviewed the woman driver who had hit his sister.)[5]

Bibliography edit

Non-fiction edit

  • Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring, Bantam (October 1, 1988), ISBN 978-0-5530-5283-1
  • Prophet of Death: The Mormon Blood Atonement Killings, William Morrow & Co (October 1991), ISBN 978-0-6881-0584-6
  • The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, Bantam (February 1, 1992), ISBN 978-0-5530-7573-1
  • Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town, Bantam (August 1, 1995), ISBN 978-0-5530-9501-2
  • Confessions of A Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames, Putnam (February 10, 1997), ISBN 978-0-3991-4188-1
  • Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas, Bantam (January 4, 2000), ISBN 978-0-5530-9502-9
  • WITSEC: Inside The Federal Witness Protection Program, Bantam (January 29, 2002), ISBN 978-0-5538-0145-3
  • Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, Berkley (April 3, 2007), ISBN 0-425-21389-7
  • Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War, Putnam (January 24, 2008), ISBN 978-0-399-15439-3
  • The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man's Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World's Most Terrifying Killers, Touchstone (January 10, 2012), ISBN 978-1-4391-9902-2
  • Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness by Jessie Close and Pete Earley, Grand Central Publishing, (January 13, 2015), ISBN 978-1-4555-3022-9[6]

Fiction edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Earley, Pete 1951- | Encyclopedia.com".
  2. ^ Pete Earley (December 4, 2009). "Pete Earley | Authors | Macmillan". Us.macmillan.com. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  3. ^ "2007 finalists". pulitzer.org. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  4. ^ "CQ Politics | Top U.N. Nuclear Watchdog a Russian Spy, Defector Says in New Book". Archived from the original on May 21, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301749.html, https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-01-26-592200836_x.htm, http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BillSteigerwald/2008/03/31/comrade_j_by_pete_earley?page=full&comments=true
  5. ^ a b c Earley, Pete (March 31, 1985). "To Find a Sister". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  6. ^ "Resilience". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved June 16, 2020.

External links edit