Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in biography: Peter the Great: His
Life and World. (1981)
Children: with first wife: Christopher; with second wife: Robert
Susanna, Elizabeth.
He earned a bachelor's degree in American studies from Yale University and received a Rhodes scholarship.
His first job in journalism was doing research for political journalist Theodore H. White at Collier's magazine. He was a book reviewer for Newsweek and wrote for the Saturday Evening Post before becoming a freelance writer.