Sidney D. Kirkpatrick (born 1955) is a documentary filmmaker and a bestselling historical author. He grew up in Stony Brook, Long Island and attended

Kent School Kent School is a private, co-educational, college preparatory boarding school in Kent, Connecticut, United States. Frederick Herbert Sill established the school in 1906. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church of the United States. Acade ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. His documentaries include: *''My Father the President'' (1982), in which Ethel Derby, second daughter of President Roosevelt, describes her childhood. His books include: * ''A Cast of Killers'' (pub. 1986), a non-fiction account of Hollywood director

King Vidor King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...

's private attempt to solve the

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Cinema of the United States, Hollywood motion picture colony o ...

murder case. * ''Turning the Tide: One Man Against the Medellin Cartel'' (with

Peter Abrahams Peter Henry Abrahams Deras (3 March 1919 – 18 January 2017), commonly known as Peter Abrahams, was a South African-born novelist, journalist and political commentator who in 1956 settled in Jamaica, where he lived for the rest of his life. Hi ...

), (pub. 1991) a novelized account of a conflict which took place in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...

between drug baron

Carlos Lehder Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder e ...

and an American professor Richard Novak's investigating

hammerhead shark The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil. Most hammerhe ...

s there. * ''Lords of Sipan'' (pub. 1992), , a non-fiction account of the discovery, looting, and eventual recovery by Dr. Walter Alva of artifacts from the tombs in Sipan, Peru. * ''Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet'' (pub. 2000) , a biography of

Edgar Cayce Edgar Cayce (; 18 March 1877 – 3 January 1945) was an American clairvoyant who claimed to channel his higher self while in a trance-like state. His words were recorded by his friend, Al Layne; his wife, Gertrude Evans, and later by his ...

, the

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

. * ''The Revenge of Thomas Eakins'' (pub. 2006), a biography of

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, the

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

. * ''Hitler's Holy Relics: A True Story of Nazi Plunder and the Race to Recover the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire'' (pub. 2010), , a true account of art historian-turned-Army sleuth Walter Horn's World War II investigation of Nazi plunder and Germanic mysticism. * ''True Tales from the Edgar Cayce Archives'' (pub. 2015) , Lives Touched and Lessons Learned from the Sleeping Prophet.

Events

The Smithsonian, National Archives, HBO, History Channel, Travel Channel, and A&E Television networks have all featured his work. Biographical profiles of Kirkpatrick have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, the New Yorker, and Playboy.

Trivia

Kirkpatrick is the father of Washington Post digital photo editor Nick Kirkpatrick, radio host Alexander Kirkpatrick, and the stepfather of film maker and artist Mercedes Thurlbeck. He plays squash, collects grave rubbings, and rings church bells.

References

Edgarcaycebooks.com
1955 births Living people American documentary filmmakers 20th-century American novelists Kent School alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American biographers American male novelists 20th-century American male writers American male biographers American male non-fiction writers {{US-novelist-1950s-stub