Mike attended school in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He became interested in the Civil War during high school when he and his brother operated a tour guide service of the historic sites of Fredericksburg, especially the battlefields.
Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, he accepted a job with Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois. He traveled extensively with Cat and lived abroad in various locations in assignments with the company and retired after a forty-year career with the company.
But his interest in the Civil War has continued to this date. And this interest led him to extensively research and write comprehensive biographies of two Civil War officers, both named Rucker, but not of direct kin. One was a Confederate, Colonel Edmund W. Rucker and the other was a slave-owning Union officer, Major William P. Rucker. Their war time experiences, although well-documented are almost beyond belief. Both biographies are extensively documented and move at an exciting pace.
In addition to the two Civil War era books Mike has 20 children’s books in print.