In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
At the University of Massachusetts Amherst he graduated with a Master of Arts in English in 1988 and with his dissertation Music Out of an Abyss: A Critical Study of the Fiction of Weldon Kees he graduated with a Ph.D. in English in 1991.
[4] He has published several non-fiction books on literary, film and popular culture issues.
Niemi has written books about Weldon Kees, Russell Banks, the Beat Generation, filmmaker Robert Altman as part of the Directors' Cuts series of Columbia University Press[5] and the genre of the War film with his genre overview 100 Great War Movies: The Real History Behind the Film.
Niemi was married to Constance "Connie" Dufour and lived in Essex Junction, Vermont.