James D. Hornfischer, an American literary agent, naval historian and author, was born in Massachusetts in 1965. He attended Colgate University, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and graduated in 1987. He received his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, and is a non-practicing member of the State Bar of Texas. Hornfischer, a former editor at HarperCollins, is currently a literary agent, representing non-fiction authors in a myriad of subject areas. Hornfischer's lifelong interest in the Pacific Theater during World War II led to his writing numerous books on the subject. His titles include: Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, The Last… Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Ship of Ghosts. He also co-wrote Service: A Navy Seal at War with Marcus Luttrell, the author of Lone Survivor.
Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a former Petty Officer First Class and United States Navy SEAL. He received the Navy Cross for his actions in 2005 facing Taliban fighters during Operation Redwing. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in Willis, Texas, Luttrell joined the United States Navy in March 1999. He began Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training with Class 226 in Coronado, California. He graduated with Class 228 after suffering a fractured femur early in his training. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005. Prior to Afghanistan, Luttrell had been part of SEAL Team 5 and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom doing various operations there. Luttrell's New York Times… bestselling book, Lone Survivor, tells the story of Operation Redwing and the navy SEAL Team 10 who were assigned to a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah (nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail), a high-ranking Taliban leader responsible for killings in eastern Afghanistan and the Hindu-Kush mountains. Luttrell was the only survivor of the SEAL team. In his next book, Service: A Navy SEAL at War, Luttrell recounts his experiences in Iraq as a member of SEAL Team 5 and offers new insights into his miraculous rescue during Operation Redwing.