Nathan Miller received his bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Maryland before becoming a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including a three-year tour as the paper's chief Latin American correspondent, based in Rio de Janeiro, before becoming an investigator and speechwriter for Sen. John L. McClellan on the permanent subcommittee on investigations and later the Senate Appropriations Committee. Miller left the congressional staff in 1977 to be a full-time freelance writer.