During World War II, he served as an aircraft mechanic in the British Royal Air Force.
His first book, Jack Teagarden: the Story of a Jazz Maverick, which he co-authored with Jay Smith, was published in 1960.
His subsequent books included The Commodores (1969), also co-authored with Smith; The Great Coalfield War (1972), co-authored with George McGovern and based on McGovern's Ph.D. thesis regarding the Colorado Coalfield War, Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole (1986), and Dark Union: the Secret Web of the Profiteers, Politicians, and Booth Conspirators That Led to Lincoln's Death (2003), co-authored with Ray Neff.
[1][2] Dark Union describes multiple conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
The book also asserts that Booth then traveled to India, changed his name to John B. Wilkes, and accumulated considerable wealth there before his death in 1883.