Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Serrin graduated from Central Michigan University in 1961. He began working for Booth Newspapers in 1964, and joined the "Detroit Free Press" staff two years later. In 1967, the "Free Press" won a Pulitzer Prize for Local General or Spot News Reporting for its coverage of the Detroit riot to which Serrin contributed. Serrin's reporting on the Kent State shooting of 1970 was honored with a George Polk Award. In 1971, he shared The Hillman Prize with Carolyn See, Kenneth Lasson, Robert Coles, and Richard Todd. In 1973, Serrin published his first book, The Company and the Union, which detailed the relationship between General Motors and the United Auto Workers. Serrin worked for the "New York Times" from 1979 to 1986, when he left to begin work on his second book. Prior to publication in 1993, "Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of An American Steel Town" was reviewed by Robert Reich in the "New York Times" and Samuel G. Freedman in the "Los Angeles Times".