P. J. Sullivan studied history at Saint Louis University and in the field in more than a dozen countries. After five years of total immersion in Europe and North Africa, he returned to the States in 1973 and became a columnist and a cartoonist for progressive causes. Drawn to the past, he has authored two non-fiction books about history and co-authored a book of genealogy. Since 1975 he has been based in Humboldt County, California.