Susan Wise Bauer is a writer, educator, and historian. Her previous books include the Writing With Ease, Writing With Skill, and Story of the World series from Well-Trained Mind Press, as well as The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had, Rethinking School, The Story of Western Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory, and the History of the World series, all from W. W. W. Norton. She has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, as well as an M.

A. in seventeenth-century literature and a Master of Divinity in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature. For fifteen years, she taught literature and composition at the College of William and Mary. Patty Rebne grew up in Colorado, where she earned a BA and an MBA. Most of her grammar, she learned from her mother, an award-winning journalist. To earn a living, Patty taught high school, delivered packages for UPS, marketed and sold software as a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, inscribed Christmas cards, and wrote fortune-cookie fortunes. She and her husband Glenn live near Seattle; they have a grown son who was mostly homeschooled, guided by The Well Trained Mind with generous additions of ski days and road-trips. Patty likes the physical action of handwriting, and does photography and cross stitch in her ample spare time.