Matthew Mills Stevenson was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. His university degrees are from Bucknell and Columbia, and he spent a year abroad in London and Vienna with the Institute of European Studies. He moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1991. He is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine and has worked professionally in finance and investing. His essays and reporting have been published in many magazines, including, most recently, in CounterPunch. He is the author of many books, including Reading the Rails, Appalachia Spring, The Revolution as a Dinner Party (about China throughout its turbulent twentieth century), and Biking with Bismarck, about the Franco-Prussian wars and the Treaty of Versailles. His recent books are The View From Churchill, an introduction to Churchill'sextraordinary life, and Our Man in Iran, an account of travels across theIslamic Republic.