Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish are the authors of Sprezzatura: 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World. Peter D'Epiro is also the author of The Book of Firsts: 150 World-Changing People and Events from Caesar Augustus to the Internet. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Queens College and his M. Phil. and PH.D. in English from Yale University. He has taught English at the secondary and college levels and worked as an editor and writer for thirty years. He lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Mary Desmond Pinkowish is the author of numerous articles on medicine and general science for physician and lay audiences. A graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where she studied biology and art history, she also earned a master's degree in public health from Yale University. She works for Patient Care magazine and lives in Larchmont, New York.