John F. Ross (author)

John F. Ross is an American historian and author. He is the recipient of the 2011 Fort Ticonderoga Award for Contributions to American History.

Career
The author of over 200 articles, Ross' works have appeared in Reader's Digest, Parade, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the Sunday Telegraph, and  Smithsonian Magazine. In addition to his written work, Ross has been featured on more than fifty radio and television programs, including the Pritzker Military Presents, C-SPAN, and the Discovery Channel.

Ross' most recent book is Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickebacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed. Published in 2014, Enduring Courage tells the true story of Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest flying ace during World War I. Ross details how Rickenbacker overcame class hostility and a lack of formal education to become one of America's greatest pilots.

In an interview about Enduring Courage, Ross explains his fascination with Rickenbacker: "'As a boy I read Rickenbacker's gritty memoir, Fighting the Flying Circus, about flying against the Germans in World War One. I was thrilled by his derring-do in the skies of northeastern France. Like all good ideas/topics, something about him stuck with me for decades. I later realized that Rickenbacker offered an ideal opportunity to explore so many fascinating themes: What is the role that courage plays in our lives, for instance? And how did our national fixation with speed begin?'"The Wall Street Journal has praised Ross for skill in depicting the reality of World War I air combat and how pilots' dangerous experiences differed from the more romantic ideas surrounding flight at the time.

Ross is the former Executive Editor of American Heritage and has served on the Board of Editors at Smithsonian Magazine.

Published Works

 * Living Dangerously: Navigating the Risks of Everyday Life (Perseus, 1999) ISBN 0738203211 It was also published under the title The Polar Bear Strategy.
 * War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier (Random House, 2009) ISBN 9780553804966
 * Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (St. Martin's Press, 2014) ISBN 9781250033772

Awards

 * 2011 Fort Ticonderoga Award for Contributions to American History
 * 2009 Harryman Dorsey Periodical Article Award from the Society of Colonial Wars for "Battle of Carillon" in American Heritage, Spring/Summer 2008