Michael Williams Edwards (December 26, 1931 – January 24, 2016) was an American journalist, writer, and senior editor with National Geographic. Over his 34 years with National Geographic, Edwards was known for his expeditions into Asia as well unstable or dangerous regions such as the former Soviet Union. He is perhaps best remembered for his eight–month journey retracing Marco Polo's 6,000 mile route along the Silk Road. A history of National Geographic noted, " Author Mike Edwards's ability to weave history with travelogue made him the ideal storyteller.

Edwards also co–wrote the award-winning, multi–year series, "The Atlanta Century," created for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and evolving to an NBC radio segment.

Background Edwards was born in Marietta, Georgia. He attended Marietta High School, graduating in 1948. His senior year, he was editor of student newspaper, The Pitchfork, which won numerous awards from Georgia Scholastic Press Association in a statewide competition, including the Athens Banner–Herald Trophy for General Excellence and the Journal Constitution Magazine Award for Feature Handling. Edwards, was called "an outstanding journalism student" by The Atlanta Constitution.

He enrolled in the University of Georgia, graduating with a degree in journalism. While at the University of Georgia, Edwards was president of his senior class and editor of The Red & Black student newspaper in 1951. He also wrote for The Atlanta Constitution.

Career

Newspapers After graduating from college, Edwards was a staff writer for The Atlanta Constitution. Next, he headed to New York City where he worked for the New York Herald Tribune. He returned to Georgia and became state editor for The Atlanta Journal. He also wrote a feature on "Antiquities of Afghanistan" for The New York Times.

Atlanta Century Starting in March 1960 for the centennial of the Civil War, Edwards and Norman Shavin wrote a one-page weekly supplement for the Sunday edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "The Atlanta Century." It was also inserted in the Columbia Record and the Miami Herald. The supplement featured original, nonpartisan accounts of that week from 100 years ago, published in the style of a period newspaper. The project involved writing original articles after researching contemporary newspapers and modern, historical sources, as well as consulting with an historian. Edwards said they had to "guard against hindsight influencing the preparation of copy".

Letters praising the series were sent by Bruce Catton, Otto Eisenschiml, Harry Golden, Major General Ulysses S. Grant III, Carl Sandburg, and Bell I. Wiley. Pulitzer Prize winning poet and journalist Carl Sandburg wrote, "I catch myself reading one news story after another, one little item after another, and getting the feel of the days a century ago when history every day was portentous and ran hot and cold. I shall follow your series with interest."

The Idaho State Journal wrote, "Period typefaces and illustrations are used to give a feeling of the time. Modern news writing and headlines are employed, however, with incisive effect." They also noted, "The writers are better-equipped than the average re-write man to give proper weight to the significant and discard immaterial." In 1961, the trade journal Southern Printer and Lithographer featured an article about Edwards and Shavin, stating, "Their product is unusual in that it is truly national in scope and content." "The Atlanta Century" had 500,000 readers, including subscribers in 50 states and 25 countries. It was used by history and journalism classes in universities and secondary schools, and every elementary and high school in Georgia received copies for free.

On March 6, 1960, Edwards and Shavin discussed "The Atlanta Century" on Press Gallery, a show on WSB-TV. WSB–TV would go on the feature the supplement in a twice–weekly series. NBC's national radio show, Monitor, did a newscast based on "The Atlanta Century" for a full year. Managing editor of the radio show, Bruce Buck said, "It is safe to say that this series is one of the most popular...that has even been on Monitor. …It is the longest nonentertainment series we have ever run." Monitor also interviewed Edwards and Shavin about their project on January 16, 1961.

Originally planned as a year-long series, "The Atlanta Century" was so popular that the paper expanded its run for the full five years of the Civil War era and reissued past editions as a premium for new subscribers. Edwards left the Atlanta Journal in 1962 but continued working on "The Atlanta Century" until August 1963. At the end of its run, the series was turned into a book by the same name, The Atlanta Century. Former President Truman added the book to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.

Peace Corps Edwards worked as an administrator for the Peace Corps from 1962 to 1968. In 1962, he was their information officer, based out of Washington, D.C. In August 1963, he went to Jamaica to serve as the deputy country director. His next position was out of Kabul from 1966 to 1967, where he was deputy country director for Afghanistan. He returned to Washington, D.C. and briefly worked on the Peace Corps' Latin American desk.

National Geographic In 1968, Edwards became a staff writer for National Geographic, advancing to assistant editor, then senior editor, by 1979. Some of his earliest articles with bylines were history and Southern-related, such as "The Virginians" in November 1974 and "Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Freedom" in February 1976. He gradually advanced to United States-adjacent countries with "Dream On, Vancouver" in October 1978 and "Mexico: New Era of Challenge" in May 1978. However, once he began working on assignments abroad as with "An Eye for an Eye: Pakistan's Wild Frontier" in January 1977, foreign assignments were common.

Edwards often traveled to war-torn areas, resulting in articles such as "Honduras: Eye of the Storm" in November 1983, "Nicaragua: Nation in Conflict" in December 1985, "El Salvador Learns to Live in Peace" in 1995, "Central Africa's Cycle of Violence" in 1997, and "Eyewitness Iraq" in 1999.Edwards, Mike, and Michael Yamashita. November 1999. “Eyewitness Iraq.” National Geographic 196 (5): 2. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022Edwards, Mike. (June 1997). Central Africa's cycle of violence. National Geographic, 191(6), 124. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.Edwards, Mike, and Tomasz Tomaszewski. 1995. “El Salvador Learns to Live with Peace.” National Geographic 188 (3): 108. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022 The latter included visiting armed camps to see the issues faced by the Kurds firsthand. He also used his experience from the Peace Corps, returning to Afghanistan to write "Kabul, Afghanistan's Troubled Capital" in April 1985 and "Central Asia Unveiled" from February 2002.Edwards, Mike. 2002. “Central Asia Unveiled.” National Geographic 201 (2): 108. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.Allen, Bill. 2002. “From the Editor.” National Geographic, February 1. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.

He had fifteen assignments in the former Soviet Union, including "Chernobyl—One Year After" in May 1987, "The Gulag Remembered" in March 1990, "Ukraine" in May 1987, "The Fractured Caucasus" in February 1996, "Searching for the Scythians" in September 1996, and "A Comeback for the Cossacks" in November 1998.Edwards, Mike and Ludwig, G. (1998). A Comeback for the Cossacks. National Geographic, 194(5), 34. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022Edwards, Mike. 1996. “The Fractured Caucasus.” National Geographic 189 (2): 126. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.“Our Man in Russia: Writer Gave Stifled Soviets an Uncensored Voice. (Scythian Gold),” National Geographic, June 1, 2003. via Gale OneFile, March 5, 2022.Edwards, Mike, and Sisse Brimberg. 1996. “Searching for the Scythians.” National Geographic 190 (3): 54. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022. Recalling his first trip to Ukraine in 1987, Edwards said, "The trick back then was getting an honest story despite the government minders. It really got exciting in '89. Suddenly people would talk to you. They weren't afraid anymore."

Edwards also covered China's past and present: "Shanghai: Muscle and Smoke Born-Again Giant" in July 1980, "Boom Times on the Gold Coast of China" in March 1997, and "Han Dynasty: A Chinese Empire to Rival Rome" in February 2004.Edwards, Mike, and O. Louis Mazzatenta. 2004. “Han Dynasty.” National Geographic 205 (2): 2–29. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.Edwards, Mike, and Michael S. Yamashita. 1997. “Boom Times on the Gold Coast of China.” National Geographic 191 (3): 2. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022 In contrast, he wrote about the American west numerous times, including "Should They Build a Fence Around Montana?" in May 1976 and "Along the Great Divide" in October 1979, "Colorado Dreaming" in August 1984, "Battle For a Bigger Bob" in May 1985, "Washington State: Riding the Pacific Tide" in December 1989, "Colorado Plateau" State of Rock" in May 2005, and "Rock of Ages: Canyonlands" in March 2007.Edwards, Mike. 2005. “State of Rock.” National Geographic 207 (5): 32–47. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022. He also wrote "A Land Apart – The Monterey Peninsula", published in November 1972.

In 1999, Edwards and National Geographic staff photographer Michael Yamashita began an expedition to prove that Marco Polo's travels to Asia were true, as told in Polo's book A Description of the World. For this story, Edwards spent eight months in the field across four years.Allen, Bill. "From the Editor." National Geographic, vol. 199, no. 6, June 2001, p. VII. Gale Academic OneFile, March 4, 2022. He traveled more than 6,000 miles, retracing Polo's path from Venice along the Silk Road through Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, China and back again. When their long journey was over, the result was unprecedented 82 pages article in National Geographic that spanned May, June, and July 2001 issues.Edwards, Mike. 2001. “The Adventures of Marco Polo.” National Geographic 199 (5): 2. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.Edwards, Mike. 2001. “Marco Polo in China Part II.” National Geographic 199 (6): 20. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022Edwards, Mike. 2001. “Marco Polo Part III, Journey Home.” National Geographic 200 (1): 26. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022. However, retracing Marco Polo's steps almost became impossible when the ruling Taliban militia denied the team entry to Afghanistan.Edwards, Mike. ‘Taking Tea With An Afghan Leader’ 2001, National Geographic, vol. 199, no. 5, p. 136, via Gale OneHost, 5 March 2022. Edwards and Yamashita flew in on an old Soviet-era helicopter to northeastern Afghanistan, which was controlled by the anti–Taliban Northern Alliance. They called upon Northern Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who served them tea and "gave them a safe-conduct pass for their two-week stay in his territory," along with the offer of food, housing, and an armed escort.

After 34 years, Edwards retired from National Geographic in 2002. His final article as staff was published in June 2003—it was also his 50th article for National Geographic, "good for a second place among the magazine's living writers". His cover stories for the magazine include "Broken Empire: Ukraine Running on Empty" in March 1993, "Genghis Khan: Lord of the Mongols" in December 1996, "Indus: Clues to an Ancient Civilization" in June 2000, "The Adventures of Marco Polo, Part I: Venice to China" in May 2002, and "Masters of Gold" in June 2003 Edwards, Mike. 2000. “Indus Civilization. (Cover Story).” National Geographic 197 (6): 108. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022.Edwards, Mike, and James L. Stanfield. 1996. “Genghis Khan. (Cover Story).” National Geographic 190 (6): 2. via EBSCO, March 4, 2022