Don Nardo

Don Nardo (born February 22, 1947) is an American historian, composer, and writer. With more than five hundred and forty published books, he is one of the most prolific authors in the United States, and one of the country's foremost writers of historical works for children and teens. Outside of school, he learned to play the trumpet and began composing chamber and orchestral music, including a four-movement symphony at age fourteen. However, having little formal musical training, he was initially unable to notate these pieces properly, so in the next few years he taught himself to do so by studying books on orchestration.

After graduating from high school in 1965, Nardo majored in theater at Syracuse University, but left after a few semesters to pursue an acting career in New York City. Later, in the 1970s, he returned to school, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in history from Worcester State College (now Worcester State University).

Early professional work As a young character actor, Nardo appeared in numerous stage productions, including work in summer stock in upstate New York and dinner theater in the American South. He also worked with the National Shakespeare Company under producer-director Philip Meister, including productions of Macbeth, Othello, and As You Like It. Later, Nardo's theatrical interests shifted more to writing screenplays and teleplays. While working on his first few scripts, he taught high school social studies and English in Barnstable, Massachusetts. One of these screenplays, The Bet, won a $5,000 award from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation in 1982. Among the teleplays was an episode of ABC's Spenser: For Hire, starring Robert Urich. Titled "Skeletons in the Closet," it guest starred E.G. Marshall and Boyd Gaines. Nardo also co-wrote, produced and directed a low-budget feature film, In Deadly Heat, which was distributed as Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator by Troma Entertainment and released to the video market in 1990 by Media Home Entertainment.

Writing career Although Nardo had avidly studied history informally since childhood and had acquired a degree in history in the 1970s, he did not begin writing history books until the 1980s. A chance assignment by a Boston-based publisher to write several chapters of a new high-school-level history textbook led to offers from several young adult publishers. In the years that followed, the offers kept coming, as did positive reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, and other noted journals. He joined the Association of Ancient Historians in the 1990s. At the request of Chelsea House, Scholastic, Lucent Books, Compass Point Books, Morgan Reynolds, and other publishers, Nardo also wrote numerous books about medieval civilization, among them a biography of the eccentric Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe that won a special commendation by the National Science Teachers Association. In addition, he fulfilled numerous requests to write books about modern history, including several studies of Native American culture, America's wars, and the U.S. founders and their writings. His 2012 book Migrant Mother was nominated for numerous best book of the year awards and won the Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction,as well as citations from the Bank Street Children's Book Committee, the Midwest Independent Publishers Association, and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Another 2012 volume, Destined for Space, won an award from the American Astronautical Society. Moreover, in September 2014, for the first time Nardo briefly switched his focus from nonfiction to fiction by publishing his first novel, titled Cloak of Destiny. He calls it a "cosmic mystery." One of its main story lines, he says, deals with a modern archaeologist who "has discovered an astonishing secret in the deserts of Israel, revealing some startling previously unknown truths about humankind’s place in the universe." That excavator has "no doubt in his mind" that when the public finds out about these mind-bending discoveries, "the world as people now know it will change forever." and other works. In 1987 the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Royston Nash, commissioned him to compose a concert piece for children based on H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Between 2008 and 2010, Nardo was the resident composer and arranger for Ferreira's Connecticut-based Amadis Orchestra.

Personal life Nardo has been married twice. The first union produced a son, Dana (born 1972), who became a graphic artist and animator. Nardo and his second wife, Christine, are avid animal lovers who have a particular fondness for dogs. They also enjoy traveling and have made frequent trips to Greece and other countries that Nardo frequently writes about.

Selected works Gravity: The Universal Force. Lucent Books, 1990. World War II: The War in the Pacific. Lucent Books, 1991. Anxiety and Phobias. Chelsea House, 1992. Charles Darwin. Chelsea House, 1993. Medical Diagnosis. Chelsea House, 1993. Greek and Roman Theater. Lucent Books, 1994. The Battle of Marathon. Lucent Books, 1995. The Age of Pericles. Lucent Books, 1996. The Bill of Rights. Greenhaven Press, 1997. The Medieval Castle. Lucent Books, 1998. Readings on Romeo and Juliet. Editor, Greenhaven Press, 1998. The Rise of Nazi Germany. Editor, Greenhaven Press, 1998. Readings on Sophocles' Antigone. Editor, Greenhaven Press, 1999. Greek and Roman Sport. Lucent Books, 1999. Readings on Othello. Editor, Greenhaven Press, 2000. Francisco Coronado. Franklin Watts, 2001. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. KidHaven Press, 2002. Life of a Roman Gladiator. Lucent Books, 2003. Andrew Johnson. Children's Press, 2004. The Byzantine Empire. Blackbirch Press, 2005. The Age of Colonialism. Lucent Books, 2006. Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesopotamia. Greenhaven Press, 2007. History of Architecture. Lucent Books, 2008. Julius Caesar: Roman General and Statesman. Compass Point Books, 2009. Alexander the Great: Conqueror of the Known World. Morgan Reynolds, 2010. The Islamic Empire. Gale, Cengage, 2011. The Birth of Christianity. Morgan Reynolds, 2012. Persian Mythology. Gale, Cengage, 2013. The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Compass Point Books, 2014. Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Raintree (England), 2015. Deadliest Dinosaurs. Reference Point Books, 2016. Teens and Eating Disorders. Reference Point Press, 2017. Transgender Life. Gale/Cengage, 2018. Classic Stories of Greek Mythology. Reference Point Press, 2019. Why Should I Care About the Greeks? Capstone Press, 2020. Understanding Gender Identity. Reference Point Press, 2021. Important Black Americans in Science and Invention. Reference Point Press, 2022. Exploring Indian Mythology. Reference Point Press, 2023.