Laurence Leamer is the author of eleven books, including most recently, Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger, called by USA Today "a compelling, three-dimensional look at a remarkable human being…truly fantastic.”

A graduate of Antioch College and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal. Leamer was also a Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and an International Fellow at Columbia University. At the Columbia University School of Journalism, Leamer was named a Pulitzer International Fellow, and upon graduation became an associate editor at Newsweek. After leaving that position, Leamer began writing magazine articles for many publications, including Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, New York, Playboy and The Washingtonian. Leamer worked incognito in a West Virginia coal mine and covered the war in Bangladesh for Harper's. That article won a citation from the Overseas Press Club for "Best Magazine Reporting."

Leamer's second book, Playing for Keeps in Washington, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. In 1979 Leamer moved to Peru where he lived two years writing a novel, Assignment, about the cocaine traffic. Back in the United States, Leamer wrote Ascent: The Spiritual and Physical Quest of Willi Unsoeld, a book purchased by Robert Redford for a movie. Leamer has since written a series of best-selling books about various subjects, including the Reagans, in his controversial study, Make-Believe, and in his New York Times bestseller, King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. The Kennedy Women, received stellar reviews, and was a main selection of the Book of the Month Club, reaching number two on The New York Times bestseller list. For Three Chords and the Truth, Leamer moved to Nashville to tell the intimate story of the lives of country music stars. The book created major controversy in the country music industry, of such magnitude that it became a story in The New York Times. "The trouble with Leamer's book is that it is the truth," said Joe Galante, President of RCA Nashville, TN.

Leamer is well regarded as an expert on the Kennedys. In recent months he has been interviewed for NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Geraldo, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, The Palm Beach Post, The Washington Post, AOL ONLINE, CNBC and The Boston Herald. Leamer has been a consultant for MSNBC and appears often on MSNBC, CNBC and NBC.

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