Don Miles

About Don

Don Miles’ professional career of almost 50 years was split about evenly between teaching and broadcasting. He was News Director for radio stations in NYC, NY, CT, FL, NE and Texas. He won AP’s “Best Newscast” award in Nebraska, his news teams in Florida and Nebraska have won numerous awards, and he has judged broadcast news awards for UPI Rhode Island. He has taught at the Universities of Florida and Nebraska, at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas,and at elementary schools in New York, Connecticut and Texas.

He is the author of two books in the field of broadcast news: Broadcast News Handbook and Broadcast Newswriting Stylebook. He has a Bachelors in Education from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Masters in Journalism and Communications from the University of Florida.

This is Don’s fifth book. There was a 2006 edition of this current volume, but several new features appear in the new version including maps to help the reader navigate the text and color photos in every chapter. There was also Cinco de Mayo, the Novel, published in 2012.

Don’s inspiration for this book came mainly from his late wife, Dr. Minerva Gonzalez-Angulo Miles. Minerva grew up in Mexico City near Emperor Maximilian’s Chapultepec Castle, and would often visit the castle and view the portrait of the emperor and empress whose story is featured as part of the history you’ll follow as you read the book.

Dr. Minerva Miles graduated as Valedictorian of the Escuela Nacional Para Maestros in Mexico City and taught elementary school there, then came to the United States on a scholarship as a foreign student. Shortly after marrying and moving to the U.S., she became a United States citizen and went on to earn a bachelors and masters at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury and a Ph.D. at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She taught at the junior high and high school levels in Connecticut and Florida, and at the university level for the University of Nebraska, St. Edward’s University in Austin and Texas State University in San Marcos. She died in May of 2006.

The couple’s daughter and son are both fully-bilingual college graduates with masters’ degrees and both have earned officers’ commissions in the military. Daughter Juliette flew helicopters in the army and later retired from the Air Force after 25 years. Son Richard served in the army during the Gulf War and later advanced through the State Department, serving as National Security Council Director for North America (Canada and Mexico) in the George W. Bush administration. Both are married and are now grandparents.

Don and Minerva traveled extensively throughout Mexico for several decades, visiting libraries, bookstores, museums and historical sites there in the research for this book. They also spent many hours in the “stacks” at the Benson Latin American Library at the University of Texas in Austin, which is widely recognized as the premier source for information on this topic. They also paid several visits to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to photocopy various government documents pertaining to the Mexican situation during the 1860’s.

Don wrote and produced plays and slide shows about Cinco de Mayo for elementary students, teachers and parents. Minerva conducted workshops on Mexican culture for teachers in Florida. She was Co-Director for an institute supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities at Texas State University that conducted tours in Mexico for Texas teachers.