A graduate of Potomac State College, West Virginia University and a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin where he worked on his doctorate in American History, Robert L Skidmore spent thirty-five years in the foreign service of the United States whose assignments took him to tours in Iran, Greece, New Zealand, Laos, Malaysia, and Portugal. Now, long retired, Mr. Skidmore indulges in two lifelong passions, researching history and writing, both of which enable him to play with his computers and avoid travel at all cost.