Paul Martin spent three decades as a book and magazine editor with the National Geographic Society, the last ten years as executive editor of National Geographic Traveler, where he worked with some of the top writers of the day, including Ray Bradbury, Calvin Trillin, Bill Bryson, and Carl Hiaasen. His own writing assignments have taken him around the world. A lifelong history buff, Paul began writing Secret Heroes in 2009. For years, he’d been collecting information on unsung American heroes, and he selected thirty of the most interesting for his book, from the forgotten tailor who saved George Washington’s life to the famous actress who was secretly a brainy inventor. “I only wrote about people with exceptional stories, characters I felt like spending time with and getting to know.” Meet the characters.