Irwin M. Isenberg was born on September 30, 1931, in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Boston University in 1953 and received a master's degree in East European studies from Harvard University in 1955.

While Caesar is the only book he wrote specifically for young people, Isenberg's other works show the same involvement with political matters that underlies this biography. From 1959 until 1965, he was a writer and editor, first with Scholastic Magazines, and later for the Foreign Policy Association. During these years, he wrote Caesar and The Soviet Satellites of Eastern Europe (1963), and he co-authored or edited several other books on public policy topics.

He then joined the staff of the United Nations, where he carried out assignments in India and Indonesia. He also continued to produce books on topics related to his expertise and interests, writing Indian Subcontinent (1972) and editing reference volumes on geographical areas and on social...