J. Mark Powell was a broadcast journalist for several decades, including 16 years as a senior news writer and news editor at CNN, where he was part of two Emmy Award-winning teams. He also reported and anchored at network affiliates in Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He received the Alabama Associated Press Best Documentary Award for a piece on the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh and the Volunteer of the Year Award at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield. Powell writes the nationally syndicated "Holy Cow! History" column. A native of Missouri, he lives near Columbia, South Carolina.