ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David DeKok writes nonfiction books about the lives and deaths and crises of people in small-town America. He is the author of two books on the Centralia mine fire in Pennsylvania, Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire (1986) and Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire (2009). The Sunday New York Times Book Review said Unseen Danger had “enough bureaucratic villains to fill a Dickens novel.” Crime writer Lisa Scottoline, who wrote Dirty Blonde, a fictional account set in Centralia and Philadelphia, called Fire Underground “a thoughtful and thoroughly engrossing read.” DeKok is a native of Holland, Michigan. He lives along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lisa Brittingham, and daughters Elizabeth and Lydia DeKok.

Readers who want to know more about David DeKok, the Ithaca epidemic, or the Centralia mine fire can go to his website, www.daviddekok.com. He likes to hear from readers and can be reached at ddekok@mac.com.