Wolf, Marvin J(ules) 1941-

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WOLF, Marvin J(ules) 1941-

PERSONAL: Born July 23, 1941, in Chicago, IL; son of Frank (a salvage dealer) and Cecille (a homemaker) Wolf; divorced; children: Laura. Ethnicity: Jewish. Education: Attended American University, 1967, and Newark State College (now Kean College of New Jersey), 1969; University of Maryland, A.A., 1974; California State University, Fullerton, B.A., 1977. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Photography.

ADDRESSES: Home—13237 Warren Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066. Agent—Judy Coppage, 5411 Camillia Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601. E-mail—marvin.wolf@comcast.net.

CAREER: U.S. Army, career officer in Signal Corps and public affairs, 1959-74, leaving service as captain; Avco Financial Services Corp., Newport Beach, CA, editor, 1974-76; Transamerica Financial Corp., Los Angeles, CA, editor, 1977-78; California State University, Fullerton, instructor in photojournalism, 1977-78; copywriter for Wells, Rich, Greene, 1977-81, and for Deutsch, Shea and Evans, 1985; freelance writer and photographer, 1978—.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, American Society of Journalists and Authors, U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents (honorary life member), National Order of Battlefield Commissions, Association of the First Cavalry Division, Independent Writers of Southern California (past president).

AWARDS, HONORS: Military: Bronze Star; Purple Heart; Air Medal; Expert Infantryman's Badge. Other: Greater Los Angeles Press Club, 1977, "Best Story in Business Publication"; Gold Quill Awards from International Association of Business Communicators, 1977, for photography; Robert L. Denig Distinguished Service Award, USMC Combat Correspondents Association, 1982; Greater Los Angeles Press Club award of excellence for nonfiction, 1993; Robert G. Anderson Memorial Award, American Society of Journalists and Authors, 1994; Author of the Year (runner up), American Society of Authors and Journalists, 1995; Founder's Award, Independent Writers of Southern California, 1995 and 2001.

WRITINGS:

The Japanese Conspiracy: The Plot to Dominate Industry Worldwide and How to Deal with It, Empire Books, 1983.

(With Katherine Mader) The Official Guide to Los Angeles Crime Sites, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1985.

(With Katherine Mader) Fallen Angels: Chronicles of L. A. Crime and Mystery, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1986.

(With Armand Grant) Platinum Crime, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Leonard H. Goldenson) Beating the Odds: The Untold Story behind the Rise of ABC: The Stars, Struggles, and Egos That Transformed Network Television by the Man Who Made It Happen, Scribner (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Katherine Mader) Rotten Apples: Chronicles of New York Crime and Mystery, 1689 to the Present, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Larry Attebery) Family Blood: The True Story of the Yom Kippur Murders: One Family's Greed, Love, and Rage, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Russell Means) Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Katherine Mader) Perfect Crimes, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1995.

Space Pioneers: Illustrated History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Race to Space, General Publishing Group (Los Angeles, CA), 1999.

(With Nguyen Cao Ky) Buddha's Child: My Life and War in Vietnam, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Also photographer for Streets of Seoul. Contributor of articles and photographs to magazines and newspapers, including Geo, Reader's Digest, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, San Francisco Examiner, Variety, Asia, Westways, Science 83, and New West.

ADAPTATIONS: The Bicycle, a screenplay based on a short story of the same name originally published in Chicago Tribune Magazine.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Family Jewels, a screenplay.

SIDELIGHTS: Marvin J. Wolf has cowritten a number of books with famous celebrities and political figures, including Beating the Odds: The Untold Story behind the Rise of ABC: The Stars, Struggles, and Egos That Transformed Network Television by the Man Who Made It Happen, Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means, and Buddha's Child: My Life and War in Vietnam.

In Beating the Odds, Wolf teamed with Leonard H. Goldenson, the longtime head of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), to tell the story of that television network's rise to prominence. When Goldenson took over the network in 1951, ABC was considered the weakest of four national television networks. But Goldenson showed a remarkable ability to pick outstanding key executives and a willingness to take programming risks. His memoir includes recollections from some of the network's top stars, including Bob Hope and Barbara Walters. "Goldenson spans a significant era, and his contribution to it on so many levels, without sacrificing any of his human values, makes this book so fascinating, valuable and, in many ways, so reflective of this extraordinary executive," according to Fred Hift in Video Age International. Genevieve Stuttaford in Publishers Weekly concluded: "The book is important reading for students of media history."

Where White Men Fear to Tread is the story of Native American activist Russell Means, the leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who led theWounded Knee takeover of 1973. The armed confrontation with agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was provoked by opposition to a corrupt tribal government. A critic for Publishers Weekly found that, "assisted by historian Wolf, Means tells his story with vernacular frankness." "Means's book reveals quite a bit about the complexity of being Indian in the late twentieth century," according to Richard White in the New Republic, "and even more about the tortuous relations of Indians and whites."

Wolf collaborated with the former South Vietnamese vice president and air force general Nguyen Cao Ky to write Buddha's Child, in which Ky provides a behind-the-scenes look at the South Vietnamese government during the 1960s. Among the subjects Ky deals with are the efforts of the government to promote democracy, the reasons behind its crackdown on Buddhist priests, and his own never-implemented military plan to defeat the communist insurgents. The book "provides an insider's look at the political machinations within South Vietnam during the American war," according to a Publishers Weekly critic. Gilbert Taylor in Booklist believed that "Ky's recollections will certainly contribute to assessments of South Vietnam's viability and fate."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Banker, August 30, 1988, Pamela S. Leven, review of Platinum Crime, p. 36.

American Film, April, 1991, Shawn Levy, review of Beating the Odds: The Untold Story behind the Rise of ABC: The Stars, Struggles, and Egos That Transformed Network Television by the Man Who Made It Happen, p. 10.

Booklist, May 1, 2002, Gilbert Taylor, review of Buddha's Child: My Life and War in Vietnam, p. 1501.

Business Week, April 9, 1984, review of The Japanese Conspiracy: The Plot to Dominate Industry Worldwide and How to Deal with It, p. 11.

Journal of American History, September, 1996, L. G. Moses, review of Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means, p. 712.

Library Journal, January, 1991, Chet Hagan, review of Beating the Odds, p. 112; July, 1991, Lois Walker, review of Rotten Apples: Chronicles of New York Crime and Mystery, 1689 to the Present, p. 114; October 1, 1993, Lois Walker, review of Family Blood, p. 110.

New Republic, July 8, 1996, Richard White, review of Where White Men Fear to Tread, p. 37.

New York Review of Books, March 28, 1985, Murray Sayle, review of The Japanese Conspiracy, p. 33.

New York Times Book Review, April 14, 1991, Michael E. Ross, review of Beating the Odds, p. 20; October 15, 1995, Brent Staples, review of Where White Men Fear to Tread, p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, March 4, 1988, Penny Kaganoff, review of Platinum Crime, p. 104; December 14, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Beating the Odds, p. 58; September 25, 1995, review of Where White Men Fear to Tread, p. 41; March 25, 2002, review of Buddha's Child, p. 51.

Video Age International, March, 1991, Fred Hift, review of Beating the Odds, p. 7.