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Ed Ruggero

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://edruggero.com/

Genre

Historical Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Member Since

September 2008

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Ed Ruggero remembers very clearly two ambitions he had early on: he wanted to be a soldier and he wanted to be a writer.
Ruggero graduated from West Point in 1980, fulfilling one of his professional dreams. He served as an infantry officer in the Army and later returned to West Point to teach literature and writing. While he was on the faculty at West Point that Ruggero got the idea that it would be great to invite a newly famous author named Tom Clancy for a visit.
“I knew Clancy was fascinated by all things military, and West Point is a great draw. I had no travel budget to offer him, but I cheekily wrote that if he made his way to New York, I’d let him talk to my upperclass cadets.”
Clancy’s visit became a big event for the Academy, and the Ed Ruggero remembers very clearly two ambitions he had early on: he wanted to be a soldier and he wanted to be a writer.
Ruggero graduated from West Point in 1980, fulfilling one of his professional dreams. He served as an infantry officer in the Army and later returned to West Point to teach literature and writing. While he was on the faculty at West Point that Ruggero got the idea that it would be great to invite a newly famous author named Tom Clancy for a visit.
“I knew Clancy was fascinated by all things military, and West Point is a great draw. I had no travel budget to offer him, but I cheekily wrote that if he made his way to New York, I’d let him talk to my upperclass cadets.”
Clancy’s visit became a big event for the Academy, and the author was a houseguest of the Superintendent, the three-star general who is essentially the president of a university. Ruggero made good on his promise and brought Clancy to class to speak to cadets in a writing course.
“He told the cadets that he’d waited until he was forty years old to even try writing, something he’d always wanted to do. He told them not to wait.”
Ruggero took Clancy’s advice to heart and got to work on a manuscript that would become his first novel, 38 North Yankee.
“I got up at 4:30—oh-dark-thirty in Army jargon—and wrote until it was time to leave for work at six. I had two young children at the time and didn’t want to sacrifice my time in the evenings with them.”
Ruggero has written fiction, military history and several titles on leadership; and has built a business running retreats for business executives to places like Normandy and Gettysburg.
“We use the history of these battles and the challenges facing the commanders, to figure out how we can better lead our modern organizations.”
On one visit to West Point Ruggero met a graduate of the Class of 1941, who became a guide for two of his books, both non-fiction accounts of American paratroopers in World War Two. Some of the hundred and fifty or so former paratroopers Ruggero interviewed fought in six major campaigns.
“Getting to know those men and capturing their stories for later generations has been a highlight of my professional career.”
While visiting Sicily to research his non-fiction Combat Jump, about the 1943 Allied invasion, Ruggero became intrigued by the question, ”What happens after the fighting moves on?”
“The Allies had somehow to restore law and order and recreate a civil society and all its functioning parts immediately in the wake of the most violent and chaotic of human endeavors: modern war. That must have been incredibly difficult.”
That musing led Ruggero to a new fiction series that kicks off in 2019 with Blame the Dead.
“The protagonist is a former Philadelphia beat cop, Eddie Harkins, who winds up investigating the murder of a US Army surgeon. Among other problems, Harkins learns that many of the victim’s colleagues think that the dead man—who was something of a low-life—pretty much got what he deserved.”
“But, as Harkins says, you can hardly blame the dead guy for his own murder.”
Ruggero and his wife, Marcia Noa, divide their time between Media, Pennsylvania and Lewes, Delaware. Ruggero spent seven years as a trustee of the Philadelphia Outward Bound School.
“I often think of Tom Clancy’s advice to my cadets, which helped me in no small way to find a job I love.”

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Ed Ruggero’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 1,306 ratings · 194 reviews · 14 distinct works • Similar authors

	Blame the Dead (Eddie Harkins #1) 3.86 avg rating — 368 ratings — published 2020 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Leader's Compass: A Personal Leadership Philosophy Is Your Key to Success by Ed Ruggero (Goodreads Author), Dennis Haley 3.71 avg rating — 191 ratings — published 2003 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Duty First: West Point and the Making of American Leaders 4.01 avg rating — 149 ratings — published 2001 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Comes the War (Eddie Harkins #2) 4.05 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 2021 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led the Assault into Fortress Europe, July 1943 4.12 avg rating — 110 ratings — published 2003 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	38 North Yankee 3.97 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 1990 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The First Men In: U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day 4.07 avg rating — 84 ratings — published 2006 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Firefall 3.70 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 1994 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The ACADEMY 3.34 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1997 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Breaking Ranks 3.60 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 1995 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ed Ruggero's Blog

Excerpt, BLAME THE DEAD

See the first two chapters of my new book here.

https://www.torforgeblog.com/2019/12/...

Blame the Dead Read more of this blog post »

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Published on December 17, 2019 13:19

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Series by Ed Ruggero

Eddie Harkins (2 books)
by

Ed Ruggero (Goodreads Author)

3.91 avg rating — 514 ratings

Mark Isen (3 books)
by

Ed Ruggero (Goodreads Author)

3.87 avg rating — 189 ratings

Ed is Currently Reading

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Firestorm - The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster

by Jacob Soboroff

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Jan 21, 2026 12:56AM

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Quotes by Ed Ruggero (?)

“A bad leader: • Will lie or stretch the truth • Puts his own interests first • Promotes himself ahead of his people • Is disrespectful • Won’t let me do my job • Doesn’t pull his share of the load.”
― Ed Ruggero, The Leader's Compassn: A Personal Leadership Philosophy is Your Foundation for Success

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“A good leader: • Respects people and does the right thing for the customer, the workers and the organization • Is concerned with people AND results • Is as good as his word • Helps people find work they enjoy and encourages learning • Remembers that people are not machines; they want more out of life than work • Has a cheerful, positive outlook, especially in difficult situations • Is energetic and keeps up with changes in the business • Sets the direction for the organization and involves others in the planning • Sets standards and lets people know what’s important to him and what he expects from them.”
― Ed Ruggero, The Leader's Compassn: A Personal Leadership Philosophy is Your Foundation for Success

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“shipping out of the states—this was January of ’43—the goddamned generals”
― Ed Ruggero, Comes the War

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