Brian Hicks is the author or co-author of five books, most recently Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears (Atlantic Monthly Press). The book tells the story of John Ross, a white man of mixed-heritage who rose up to lead the tribe through its most turbulent period. Toward the Setting Sun is a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Book Club and the Military Book club. An adaptation of the book is scheduled to appear in Smithsonian Magazine.

Hicks and his books have been featured on National Public Radio and in major newspapers, including the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Chicago Tribune. He has been featured on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and CBS Sunday Morning.

By day, Hicks is a senior writer and metro columnist with the Charleston Post and Courier. For 25 years, his journalism has appeared in national magazines and newspapers. He was won more than two-dozen awards for his reportage. In 1998, he was named South Carolina Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association. And in 2008, the Society of Professional Journalists namedHicks the best humor columnist in the Southeast.