Artists of Deception: The Ghost Army of World War II
Rick Beyer is a successful author, an award winning documentary producer, and a lifelong history enthusiast. He is the author of the popularGreatest Stories Never Toldseries of history books, published by Harper Collins. The fifth book in the series,The Greatest Music Stories Never Told,came out in June 2011.Beyer is currently at work on an independent film entitledThe Ghost Armyabout a US Army deception unit in World War II that went to war with inflatable tanks and a world class collection of sound effects records. His most recent television documentary,Expedition Apocalypse,appeared on the National Geographic Channel in April 2010. In 2009 he completed two short films for the Lincoln exhibit at the Smithsonian s National Museum of American History, and the filmFirst Shot: The Day The Revolution Began, for the Lexington Historical Society.First Shothas been honored with awards from The New York Festivals and the American Association of State and Local History. Other documentary credits includeRevolution in Boston, Godspeed to Jamestown, Secrets of Jamestown, The Wright Challenge(winner of a Parents Choice Award)The Patent Files,andTimelab 2000,an acclaimed collection of 200 history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston. All appeared on The History Channel. Beyer was also the Executive Producer of the A&E; documentary seriesMeet the Royals.Beyer has contributed numerous articles to The History Channel Magazine and other publications. He recently authored new guidebook for the Lexington Historical Society. In the past he has also worked as a radio reporter, a TV news producer, an ad agency creative director, and a janitor (not in that order).A 1978 graduate of Dartmouth College, he currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he can occasionally be found in colonial attire giving tours of historic Buckman TavernElizabeth Sayles has illustrated more than 25 picture books for children including her latest,Moon ChildandThe Very Little Princess: Rose s Story,(both from Random House) as well as the best selling picture bookI Already Know I Love You,which was written by Billy Crystal. She also wrote and illustratedThe Goldfish Yawned,which was a winner of the Bank Street College Best Children s Book, 2005.Her work appears on book jackets and in projects for Lands End, Peaceable Kingdom Press, American Girl/Mattel, Sony/BMG Music, T. Rowe Price, and Delta Airlines, among others.Her artwork has been on display in galleries and private collections across the country including the Society of Illustrators in NYC, Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art also in NYC, The New York Public Library and The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio. In California her work has been on exhibit at Chemers Gallery in Santa Ana and Every Picture Tells a Story in LA.In addition to illustrating, she is an adjunct professor ofIllustrationat the School of Visual Arts in NYC and of Illustration & Cartooning at the SUNY/Rockland. She conducts workshops for kids large and small on graphic storytelling.She designed and co-producedArtists of Deception: The Ghost Army of WWII.It tells the story of a little known deception unit of the US Army that her father was a part of in WWII. The book is an outgrowth of the Ghost Army Exhibit at the Historical Society of Rockland County, NY, which she co-curated with Rick Beyer. She works in a little house in the lower Hudson Valley of NY that she shares with her husband (a musician), their daughter.