Mike D'Orso

D'Orso's father was a U.S. Navy submarine officer and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. D'Orso was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to James and Claire D'Orso, and was raised in military base cities, including: Key West, Florida; San Diego, California; Charleston, South Carolina; and Frankfurt, Germany."Writing His Life," Hampton Roads Magazine, January, 2008."Reporter-Author Michael D'Orso Goes Inside the Skin of His Subjects," The Virginian-Pilot, Oct. 2, 1993. He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the College of William and Mary in 1975 and earned a master's degree in English from William and Mary in 1981.{{cite web|url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960206/02060030.htm|title=MIKE D'ORSO HAS EARNED HONORS AND ACCOLADES FOR HIS STORYTELLING|publisher=The Virginian-Pilot via Virginia Tech|last=Swift|first=Earl|date=February 6, 1996|access-date=March 2, 2025}}

D'Orso was a staff writer for Commonwealth Magazine (1981-1984), features writer for The Virginian-Pilot (1984-1993), and contributor to Sports Illustrated magazine (1988-1993).{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Bill |title=The Happy Ghost |url=http://www.mikedorso.com/author/happy_ghost.html. |accessdate=16 December 2018 |work=The Millions |date=11 June 2010}} Seven of his books have been best sellers: Rosewood: Like Judgment Day and Body For Life (both The New York Times);"Best Sellers Plus," The New York Times, March 23, 1997 ("Like Judgment Day" #22)."Best Sellers," The New York Times, Nov. 7, 1999 ("Body For Life" #1). Walking With the Wind (The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post);"Los Angeles Times Bestsellers," The Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1998 ("Walking With the Wind" #8)."Washington Post Bestsellers," The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2017 ("Walking With the Wind" #3). Like No Other Time and In Praise of Public Life (The Washington Post); Rise and Walk (Bookstore Journal National Christian Bestsellers);"Best-Selling Christian Books," Bookstore Journal, Nov., 1993 ("Rise and Walk" #3). and Winning With Integrity (Business Week)."Crash Landing," ESPN The Magazine, April 1, 2002. Walking With the Wind also won the 1999 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was selected for Newsweek magazine's 2009 list of "50 Books For Our Times".{{cite web|url=https://rfkhumanrights.org/person/john-lewis-and-michael-dorso/|publisher=RFK Human Rights|title=John Lewis and Mike D'Orso|date=|access-date=March 1, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.librarything.com/award/352/Newsweek-50-Books-for-Our-Times|title=Newsweek 50 Books for Our Times|publisher=Library Thing|date=|access-date=March 1, 2025}}

D'Orso's work often involves issues of social justice.{{original research inline|date=March 2015}} His first book, Somerset Homecoming (1988), written with Dorothy Redford, was about Redford's investigation into her ancestors' experience as slaves in North Carolina. Nelson, Jill (Aug. 25, 1988). "Searching for Her Roots." The Washington Post.{{cite web|url=https://uncpress.org/book/9780807848432/somerset-homecoming/|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|title=Somerset Homecoming Recovering a Lost Heritage|access-date=March 4, 2025}}

Like Judgment Day discussed the 1923 Rosewood massacre, and the survivors' pursuit of reparations seventy years later.Daynard, Jodi (Feb. 4, 1996). "An American Tragedy." The Boston Sunday Globe.

Walking With the Wind was a biography of John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.Nelson, Jack (June 14, 1988). "A Hero of Our Time." Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Eagle Blue was about rural Native American villagers in arctic Alaska shifting from a subsistence lifestyle of hunting, trapping and fishing to a modern cash economy.{{cite web|url=https://www.anchoragepress.com/arts_and_entertainment/book_reviews/alaskan-basketball-a-way-of-life/article_612bf8cc-0466-11e7-b830-938bb72689d7.html|last=Fox|first= David|date=March 8, 2017|title=Alaskan Basketball – A Way of Life|publisher=Anchorage Press|access-date=March 2, 2025}}

Plundering Paradise described the social and environmental impact of thousands of Ecuadorians moving to the Galapagos Islands in search of jobs.{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?165949-1/plundering-paradise-hand-man-galapagos-islands|publisher=CSPAN|title=Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands|date=February 23, 2003|access-date=March 1, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2003/02/02/bitter-harvest/ea9e8fe0-9827-4662-8347-f243c3b9ffda/|last=Gutin|first= JoAnn C. |publisher=Washington Post|date=February 2, 2003|title=Bitter Harvest|access-date=March 1, 2025}}

• D'Orso, Michael (1988), with Dorothy Redford. Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-24245-X

• D'Orso, Michael (1990). Fast Takes: Slices of Life Through a Journalist's Eye. Norfolk, Va.: Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 0-9624375-6-5

• D'Orso, Michael (1992), with Carl Elliott. The Cost of Courage: The Journey of an American Congressman. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-42091-9

• D'Orso, Michael (1993), with Madeline Cartwright. For the Children: Lessons From a Visionary School Principal. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-42372-1

• D'Orso, Michael (1993), with Dennis Byrd. Rise and Walk: The Trial and Triumph of Dennis Byrd. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-017783-7

• D'Orso, Michael (1994). Pumping Granite: Portraits of People at Play. Lubbock, Tex.: Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 0-89672-338-0

• D'Orso, Michael (1996). Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood. New York: Grosset/Putnam. ISBN 0-399-14147-2

• D'Orso, Michael (1997), with Dee Hakala. Thin is Just a Four-Letter Word. New York: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-33911-3

• D'Orso, Michael (1998), with John Lewis. Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81065-4

• D'Orso, Michael (1998), with Leigh Steinberg. Winning With Integrity: Getting What You're Worth without Selling Your Soul. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50179-7

• D'Orso, Michael (1999), with Bill Phillips. Body For Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Fitness. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-019339-5

• D'Orso, Michael (2000), with Joseph Lieberman. In Praise of Public Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-86774-5

• D'Orso, Michael (2002). Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands. New York: HarperCollins. IBN 0-06-019390-5

• D'Orso, Michael (2003), with Tom Daschle. Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Ruined America Forever. New York: Crown. ISBN 1-4000-4955-5

• D'Orso, Michael (2006). Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-623-2

• D'Orso, Michael (2011), with Ted Danson. Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them. New York: Rodale. ISBN 978-1-60529-262-5

• [http://www.mikedorso.com D'Orso's website]

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Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:American male journalists

Category:20th-century American writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:People from Portsmouth, Virginia

Category:Writers from Virginia

Category:College of William & Mary alumni

Category:Journalists from Virginia

Category:21st-century American male writers