William Weber Johnson (1909-1992) was a journalist, a professor of journalism at UCLA, and an author of countless articles and a dozen books, the best known of which is Heroic Mexico: the narrative history of a twentieth century revolution (New York: Doubleday, 1968). He served with Time, Inc. from 1941-61 as a writer (New York), war correspondent (European Theater and WWII) and chief of various domestic and foreign bureaus (Mexico and Central America, Argentina and South America, Dallas, Boston and Beverly Hills). Johnson’s interest in B. Traven began while Johnson was Time, Inc. bureau chief in Mexico City and continued well after Traven’s death. Johnson was personally acquainted with the elderly Hal Croves (as Traven was calling himself in Mexico City) and his wife Rosa Elena Lujan. Johnson had many conversations and a lengthy cordial correspondence with Rosa Elena Lujan, and at one time intended to write the definitive B. Traven biography. This was never fully realized, but his thirty years of collected research and correspondence on B. Traven came to University of California, Riverside in 1986.

B. Traven was the pseudonym for an internationally famous writer who guarded his identity with jealousy and determination throughout his life, creating one of the greatest literary puzzles of the 20th century. Other names he went by in his lifetime are Traven Torsvan, Hal Croves, and Ret Marut. His twelve novels, the best known of which are The Death Ship and the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and many short stories have been translated into numerous languages. Films have been made of his the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, White Rose, Macario, The Death Ship, and Rebellion of the Hanged. He died in March 1969 in Mexico City, Mexico.