biography after his spouse gave him the idea during 1991. Michaelis's work, N.C. Wyeth: A Biography was released in 1998. He co-authored the 2000 book One Nation: Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N.C. Wyeth and James Wyeth alongside Lauren Raye Smith and Tom Brokaw. In 2001, Michaelis was selected to write a biography on Charles Schulz. As a contributor, Michaelis wrote about Schulz in the 2004 publication of The Complete Peanuts: 1950-1952. His biography on Schulz was released in 2007 titled Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography. Before the Schulz biography was set to be published that year, Schulz's family said there were mistakes and missing information in the book by Michaelis. While talking about the book, Michaelis said there was nothing incorrect with his biography on Schulz. Michaelis began his book on Eleanor Roosevelt in 2009. During 2020, he released his Roosevelt biography titled Eleanor. While reviewing the book, Gail Collins of The New York Times said it was "the first major single-volume biography in more than half a century". Additional positions In the late 1970s, he held an editing position with The Paris Review. He then wrote for Manhattan, inc. the following decade. By the 2000s, some magazines his contributions appeared in were The New Republic and The American Scholar. Apart from literature, Michaelis worked for the New York City Police Department as a volunteer during the early 1980s. He had been consulted as part of the November 2007 television special titled "Good Ol' Charles Schulz" for American Masters. Writing process and themes In the early 1980s, Michaelis conducted personal interviews about male friendships for The Best of Friends. While Michaelis was creating The Best of Friends, James Stewart declined to appear in the book. When the death of John Belushi occurred before The Best of Friends was completed, Michaelis included Belushi's friendship with Dan Aykroyd in his book. Micahelis read personal correspondence that were owned by Houghton Miffin, the Archives of American Art and the Wyeth family for his biography on N.C. Wyeth. Upon completing his 4,000 page book, Michaelis reduced the length of his biography by over 80 percent before publication. To create his biography on Schulz, Michaelis examined documents owned by the Schulzs and United Media as part of his research. He also read Peanuts and conducted over 200 interviews. Schulz and Peanuts was revised multiple times before it was ready for publication. Details that were