Ward Just was a correspondent for Newsweek and the Washington Post from 1959 to 1969, before turning to fiction. He published twelve novels, three collections of short stories, and two works of nonfiction. His memoir To What End movingly portrays his experiences as a correspondent in Saigon during the Vietnam War. His novel An Unfinished Season was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005. His novel Echo House was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997. He has twice been a finalist for the O. Henry Award: in 1985, for his short story “About Boston,” and again in 1986, for his short story “The Costa Brava, 1959.” Just passed away on December 19, 2019, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.