Maier is also the author and a producer of "Mafia Spies", a six-part Paramount+ docuseries, based on his book of the same name.

[3] Maier is the author of When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys, a history of the two families.

The latter was named a "Notable Book of the Year" in 1998 by The New York Times[4] and the subject of a BBC and A&E biography documentary.

His 1994 book, Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It, won the Frank Luther Mott Award by the National Honor Society in journalism[5] and mass communication for best media book of the year.

In 2002, he won the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' top prize for a series about immigrant workplace deaths.