Raised in Manhattan, John Lubetkin?s first experience of the American West was in the early 1950s as a summer camper on a month-long caravan across the West. A history major, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, served in the military and received a M.A. from New York University. He spent 32 years as a cable television executive and successfully co-founded two communications companies and a cable network (the Learning Channel). In retirement, John first channeled his creative interests into the little known story of Jay Cooke ("The Financier of the Civil War") and the creation of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The result was ?Jay Cooke's Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, The Sioux, and the Panic of 1873?. John, a former director of the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association, has recently completed a parallel work of historical fiction entitled Custer's Gold, a story of stolen Montana gold set against a Yellowstone Valley backdrop. A graduate of Union College in Schenectady, NY, John has also published Union College's Class of 1868: The Unique Experiences of Some "Average" Americans (1995), and has contributed numerous articles and book reviews for various historical publications and The Classic Western American Railroad Routes.