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Mark Seal Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Mark Seal
Photo: Guillaume Bonn

Mark Seal

Mark Seal Biography

Mark Seal has been a journalist for more than thirty years. Currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, he has written for many major magazines and served as a collaborator on almost twenty nonfiction books. Although he has written thousands of stories, Seal says none has struck a chord with readers more than Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Death in Africa, the story of the incredible life and brutal death of Joan Root, which he originally reported in the August 2006 issue of Vanity Fair.

Mark lives in Aspen, Colorado.

Mark Seal's website

This bio was last updated on 10/24/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

Mark Seal gives his thoughts on the con-artist Christian Karl Gerhartstreiter (aka Clark Rockefeller) and discusses his book The Man in the Rockefeller Suit.

What drew you to Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter's story? After writing this book, what image of the man did you walk away with? Do you believe his plea of insanity? Do you think he believes it?
I first heard about Clark Rockefeller from a friend who had gone on a lunch date with him in New York. "Mark, did you hear about Clark Rockefeller!?" she screamed over the phone. I hadn't, but as soon as I began following his trail, I knew I was onto a whale of a story. After writing the book, I walked away with the feeling that the man will do whatever it takes to move ahead in life. As for the insanity defense, I agree with the jury in his kidnapping trial, which seemed to reject his plea of insanity by finding him guilty on most counts.

Your research for the book involved conducting nearly 200 interviews, in addition to scouring court transcripts and official documents. What did you expect to learn when you undertook this project? Were you surprised by any of your discoveries?
I try not to have preconceptions when following a story. In the case of Clark Rockefeller, I was constantly surprised and astounded. Every person I met had some new twist on the guy, and every time I thought the story was done, some new development, person, or ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Mark Seal at BookBrowse
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Mark Seal but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

We recommend 14 similar authors


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