Jack A. Nelson

A former journalist, he was the son of a Norwegian immigrant and grew up in Bellflower, Southern California. Public author bios say he was especially attracted to actual events, which helps explain the factual, grounded feel of much of his writing.

Sources also describe him as an associate professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University, and note that he taught at California State University, Humboldt and the University of Utah. His published work spans communications, the humanities, and history.

Readers may know him both for books such as Flashes in the Night: The Sinking of the Estonia and for his writing on disability and media, including The Disabled, the Media, and the Information Age. Across those very different subjects, his work shows a consistent interest in real lives, public perception, and the stories societies choose to tell.