His first literary prize came as an undergraduate for an article on British polymath James Clerk Maxwell and Maxwell's Equations, which a century ahead of their time explained electromagnetism and light. A few years later, a popular version of Michael's master's thesis on life-style disappointments of MBAs was published as the cover story of a national magazine.

Early in his career, he authored a five-year population plan adopted by the government of South Korea, and a ground-breaking method which showed national family planning programs around the world how to lower population growth rates as rapidly as resources would permit.

A particularly enjoyable writing experience was as restaurant critic for The Sacramento Bee, central California's largest newspaper. Restaurant reviewing actually does take work but no one will believe it, says Michael.

Peter Michael is founder and publisher of Underground Railroad Free Press, North America's leading Underground Railroad news publication, which awards the annual Free Press Prizes and serves as the central registry of contemporary Underground Railroad organizations and programs.

In a life of civic involvement, he has sat on more than twenty boards of directors or trustees, mostly in the arts, higher education and race relations, including a higher education gubernatorial appointment. He has served as chairman or president of eight civic organizations or corporations, and as an officer, founder or cofounder of ten more.

Peter Hanson Michael descends from John Hanson, first United States President under the Articles of Confederation (1781-82); Maryland colonial governor William Stone (1649-56); Swiss naturalist Franz Ludwig Michel, in 1707 the first European explorer of western Maryland where Michael lives; and is related to multiple Maryland state office holders up into the late 20th century, Declaration of Independence Signer Thomas Stone (1743-87), and both F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. He is thought to be related to Underground Railroad icon Josiah Henson and North Pole discoverer Matthew Henson.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Berkeley and Princeton, he has taught at the graduate level at universities in the United States, Japan, Thailand and Costa Rica.

He and his wife Vicki, a painter, live on a historic Maryland farm which his family founded in 1768. The farm is powered entirely by sun and wind.