[1] Lamott spent his childhood in Japan, where his father was a Presbyterian missionary.
The family returned to the United States in 1938 after Lamott had spent two years at the American School in Japan.
[2] He left during World War II and joined the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant.
After attending the US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School at the University of Colorado at Boulder,[3] he was assigned to interrogate Japanese prisoners of war.
He worked for the State Department until 1951, then moved to California, where he taught part-time at San Quentin Prison while writing his first book.