Mark Seal Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Mark Seal is an American author and journalist that has been actively working in the field for more than four decades. Seal worked as a journalist in Texas before he finally become a freelance magazine author in 1984.

In 2003, he was employed as a contributing editor for “Vanity Fair” and covered all manner of interesting stories. Some of the stories he has covered include the fall of Oscar Pistorius the Olympian, the Bernie Madoff scandal, Tiger Woods, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the making of classic movies such as Pulp Fiction among many others.

“The Over the Hill Gang,” which was an article he wrote for “Vanity Fair” in 2016, told the story of how a gang of thieves pulled the biggest heist of jewels in British history. The article was so popular that it would be the inspiration for the Michael Caine starring “King of Thieves” film that came out in 2018.

He penned his debut novel “Wildflower” about the legendary naturalist and filmmaker Joan Root in 2009.

Working in Texas before he turned freelance, he was a journalist in demand. Over the years, his writings have been featured in the likes of The New York Times, Esquire, Time, Playboy, Town & Country, Rolling Stone, InStyle, Conde Nast Traveler, Texas Monthly, and Golf Digest among others.
He has also worked as a journalist and reporter for the likes of The Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. Mark Seal also collaborated on more than twenty non-fiction works that have been published by major publishers.
One of his biggest achievements working for Vanity Fair was when he led the work on a wide-ranging feature on Bernie Madoff, his victims, and his family. He has also worked on other less profile features that include high life such as the life of Clark Rockefeller the con artist, the insiders of Apsen and Super Yachts.

Seal has also written on the sophisticated theft of the Oscar statuettes from 2001, the interfamily disputes of the family of Hollywood mogul and former oilman Marvin Davies, and the intriguing drama of the Italian Agnelli family.
His Vanity Fair profile on con artist Clark Rockefeller made him a finalist for the 2010 National Magazine Award. Seal currently makes his home in Aspen, Colorado.

Mark Seal’s novel “The Man in the Rockefeller Suit,” tells the story of one of the most elaborate con games in the United States.
A German immigrant had conned the world for decades as he hid behind one of the most recognizable names in the United States. In this fascinating story, Mark tells the story of German-born Christian Gerhartsreiter who leaves home as a 17-year-old and goes to leave with an acquaintance in Connecticut.

Over more than a dozen years, he carefully sharpened his skills and become one of the best impersonators in the world. He got rid of his German accent and took up aliases first in San Marino in California and then in Manhattan where he introduced himself as James Clark Rockefeller.
Soon enough, he married financial executive Sandra Boss and went on to spend her money with reckless abandon. It was only after she divorced him 12 years later did his well-orchestrated scheme come crashing down.
He would go on the run taking along with him their young daughter which sparked a long chase by the FBI. He would ultimately be sentenced for assault and battery and kidnapping.

Mark brilliantly dissects and reconstructs Clark’s bizarre life as he weaves in interviews with those that thought they knew who he was during the many years he conned all manner of people.

Mark Seal’s “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli” is the expansion of what has to be Mark’s most popular article on Vanity Fair in “The Godfather Wars.”

This is an entertaining and revealing look into the behind-the-scenes happenings that resulted in the epic film by Francis Ford Coppola. Fifty years after the premiere, The Godfather continues to occupy the minds of historians and film critics across the world.
However, Seal believes that some things remained misrepresented or overlooked in the film. As such, he set out to untangle the self-aggrandizing contentions and competing narratives that continue to be brought forth.

Through extensive interviews and research with key production staff and actors, Seal weaves a tale that showcases the intriguing portraits of the main architects in The Godfather film.

He looks into the likes of Mario Puzo who wrote the original 1969 novel, Robert Evans the Paramount Pictures executive that was struggling to save his sinking studio, Hollywood newcome Coppola who needed a hit to establish his name and several kingpins of the New York Mafia that were determined to derail the film.

Along the way, Seal serves up some fascinating insights for his fans including how Richard Castellano the actor came up with Take the cannoli’s famous line which he supposedly improvised. He also looks into how the lead transformed himself into Vito Corleone the aging grandfather.

“Wildflower” by Mark Seal is an expansion of the author’s August 2006 article that he penned for Vanity Fair. It is an atmospheric and sweeping biography of Joan Root, the wildlife filmmaker, and conservationist that was brutally killed in her home.

Shockingly, she was killed in Naivasha Kenya, a place she was trying to save from environmental ruin and poachers. Seal was intrigued by the suspicious death and exciting life she led with her husband Alan Root the nature documentarian.

Seal mines Joan’s writings and diaries as he provides a beautiful love story set during the height of the colonial period in Nairobi. Amid the dilettantism and decadence, Alan falls in love with Ingrid Bergman lookalike Joan Thorpe who is the daughter of a British man.
Their partnership would produce “Mysterious Castles of Clay,” the award-winning documentary among several television specials. However, Joan’s inability to conceive was a constant source of sorrow for the two and their marriage would unravel despite the passion they had for their joint pursuits.

Seal writes a brilliant story full of heartbreak, passion, and adventure that eclipses Joan’s unsolved and untimely death in 2006.