Russell Freedman: Hello, my name is Russell Freedman. I was named after my father's best friend, a man named Russell Garden. He was the head of the Oxford University Press in New York. So I suppose I can say that from the very beginning, from the time I was named, I was destined to become an author.

The word Russell comes from a Latin word, russus, which means red, and I suppose that the first little boys named Russell had red hair. However, I've never had red hair. My hair was brown. Now it's gray, but my name hasn't changed. It's still Russell.