Doug
Moe
Doug Moe is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed non-fiction books, as well as thousands of newspaper columns and magazine articles.
VIEW DOUG MOE'S BOOKSFEATURED BOOKS
Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin
Biography, 2025
It started in February 1933 when a Wisconsin farmer brought a dead cow and a bucket of cow’s blood to the UW-Madison lab of Karl Paul Link. Over two decades Link and his team would solve the mystery, and in doing so, develop a life-saving human anticoagulant called warfarin. This biography traces Link’s life from humble Indiana beginnings to the labs and lecture halls where he made his name – and 20th century medical history.
Moments of Happiness: A Wisconsin Band Story
Autobiography, 2024
The memoir of Mike Leckrone, University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 50-year marching band director. “Moments of Happiness: A Wisconsin Band Story” was written in collaboration with Doug Moe.
Forward for the People: The Autobiography of America’s Longest Serving Legislator
Autobiography, 2025
When Fred Risser retired from the Wisconsin Senate in 2021, his sixty-four years in state government made him the longest serving legislator in US history. Now, in this candid and illuminating autobiography, Risser shares his singular perspective on events that transformed the state and the nation over the course of his remarkable career.
‘The inimitable chronicler of Madison.’
DAVID MARANISS, Pultizer Prize-winning bestselling author.
MEET
DOUG MOE
With storytelling skills honed across more than four decades in Wisconsin journalism, Doug’s insightful magazine profiles and book-length biographies have made him the go-to journalist for magazine editors and book publishers.
In addition, he writes corporate and foundation histories and is a frequent collaborator with individuals, including former Wisconsin Governor Tommy G. Thompson, who want their stories written in a compelling style that will engage readers.
Doug is much in demand as a keynote speaker, drawing on a vast array of behind the scenes stories from his life in journalism -- tales that include a rare, lengthy interview with Lana Peters, daughter of Joseph Stalin; standing at the shoulder of a celebrated surgeon as he transplanted a liver; sharing volatile living quarters with football star Lyle Alzado; going backstage with Chris Farley at Saturday Night Live; interviewing the U.S. intelligence officer who discovered Adolf Hitler’s will at the bottom of a dry well outside Munich; and many more.
In recent years Doug has served as a moderator or interviewer at hundreds of book launch events and panel discussions, including at the Madison Reunion in which he interviewed the distinguished travel journalists Tim Cahill and Peter Greenberg.
AWARDS & ACCOLADES
Year after year, voted “Best Columnist” and “Best Local Author / Writer” in the Best of Madison Poll.
Regularly recognized by the Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition for his Madison Magazine blog as “Best Digital Columnist.”
Finalist in the national 2017 City and Regional Magazine Awards best profile competition for his Madison Magazine article, “The Real Mike Koval.”
Two-time winner of the Golden Gavel Award for outstanding journalism presented by the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Recognized more than a dozen times as best writer or columnist in Madison in readers’ polls conducted by Madison Magazine and the Wisconsin State Journal.
His book “The World of Mike Royko” was named a “Choice Selection of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune.
His book “Lords of the Ring: The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing’s Greatest Team” was runner-up for the August Derleth Award recognizing the best nonfiction book of the year by a Wisconsin author, and received honorable mention in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s ranking of the best collegiate sports books of all time. It has also been optioned several times for a possible documentary or feature film.