Michael Ruppert (February 3, 1951 – April 13, 2014) was an American investigative journalist best known as the editor of the newsletter From The Wilderness (1999-2006) and author of the 2004 book Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. After graduating with honours in Political Science from UCLA in 1973 Ruppert became a narcotics detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. While serving with the LAPD he became involved with a woman named Nordica Theodora D’Orsay through whom Ruppert became aware of the relationship between organised crime and official government agencies particularly with respect to the trafficking of illegal narcotics and arms. Ruppert’s attempts to alert the LAPD to these realities resulted in him being ‘forced out’ of the department in 1978 even though he had achieved the highest ratings in his professional conduct as an LAPD officer. His career prematurely terminated. Michael Ruppert drifted from job to job until in 1996 he read with great interest Gary Webb’s series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News regarding CIA involvement in the crack cocaine explosion in South Central Los Angeles during the 1980s. Feeling both inspired and vindicated by Webb’s work Ruppert founded a newsletter and website entitled From the Wilderness covering a range of topics including international politics, the CIA, peak oil, civil liberties, drugs, economics, corruption and the nature of the 9/11 conspiracy. It attracted 22,000 subscribers.

Michael Ruppert was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Collapse, which was based on his book A Presidential Energy Policy and received The New York Times’ “critics pick”. He served as president of Collapse Network, Inc. from early 2010 until he resigned in May 2012. He also hosted The Lifeboat Hour on Progressive Radio Network until his death in 2014. In 2014, Vice featured Ruppert in a 6-part series titled Apocalypse, Man, and a tribute album, Beyond the Rubicon was released by the band New White Trash, of which he had been a member. On April 13, 2014, Michael Ruppert was found dead in Napa County at home just outside the Calistoga, California city limits. Ruppert died of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. This has been confirmed by close friend and property owner and landlord Jack Martin. His friend Jack Martin found Ruppert’s body and suicide note. According to his business partner and last attorney of record, Wesley Miller, Ruppert shot himself after taping his final broadcast of The Lifeboat Hour with friend and colleague Carolyn Baker, Ph.D.