Welcome to Better Know a Guest, your weekly guide to the wonderful and diverse array of personalities appearing on ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show’ each week.
Hello, Colbert News Hub! Great week of shows coming up before the break, I personally am enjoying the uptick in midterms-related news recently because there are only so many scary stories you can read and watch about ISIS and ebola. Races that could provide great material for the Report this week include a close one in Iowa between hog-castrator Joni Ernst and tongue-twister Bruce Braley (who recently got into a heated debate over dark money donations that she received from the Koch brothers and that he received from Michael Bloomberg), and one in Texas between sneaker-clad feminist Wendy Davis and attorney general Greg Abbott (a paraplegic, and the subject of Davis’s ill-advised attack ad which featured an ominous shot of his empty wheelchair). The week’s uplifting highlight was Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi’s Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for childrens’ rights.
Stephen’s guests this week are two authors, a musician, and an writer/director. Jon’s are a journalist, a comedian, a pundit, and a lawyer. Let us know who you’re excited to hear from this week, and what you’d like to see covered in the shows!
Monday, October 13 (2014)
Walter Isaacson (Author: “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution”)
Walter Isaacson is a journalist and a biographer, best known for his bestselling biography of Steve Jobs. Isaacson began his career as a journalist in the 70s, and eventually worked his way up to editor of TIME magazine. He went on to be CEO of CNN, and is now CEO of the Aspen Institute. Isaacson is also a board member of Teach For America, which sends young teachers into schools in poor neighborhoods, and vice-chair of Partners for a New Beginning, a group which works to strengthen ties between America and Muslim countries. Isaacson’s new book The Innovators profiles people who invented the precursors to computers and internet; he covers early inventions such as the programmable weaving loom, and the origin of computer bugs (a moth flew into a computer), all the way up to the internet and companies like Apple and Google.
Born: May 20, 1962 (New Orleans, LA)
Education:Harvard University, Oxford University
Books: Steve Jobs | Einstein: His Life and Universe | Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | Kissinger: A Biography | The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
Awards: Rhodes Scholarship | Time 100 | Benjamin Franklin Medal, Royal Society of the Arts
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – May 15, 2007
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – March 5, 2003 | October 23, 2003 | April 11, 2007 | February 10, 2009 | October 26, 2011
Follow: Website | @WalterIsaacson | Facebook
Tuesday, October 14 (2014)
Neil Young (Author: “Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life and Cars“)
Neil Young is a prolific Canadian rock/folk musician, who has released over 35 albums since his first in 1968. He has had a wide-ranging career including solo work and performing music as part of Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Young’s music is known for including elements of activism; he is an environmentalist, and a critic of the Iraq War. He has recently been touring the United States and Canada protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Young’s new album, Storytone, will be released on two disks; one features acoustic versions of all songs, while the other includes a 92-piece orchestra and choir. Aside from making music, Young has pursued other ventures, most recently the creation of a high resolution digital music player called Pono. Pono plays files that have a higher sound quality than MP3, which artists make available for purchase through Pono’s online music library. Young has also directed several music-related films under the pseudonym Bernard Sharkey, and has written two memoirs. His most recent, Special Deluxe, is about his lifelong love of cars.
Born: November 12, 1945
Discography (solo): Neil Young | Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | After the Gold Rush | Harvest | Time Fades Away | On the Beach | Tonight’s the Night | Zuma | Long May You Run | American Stars ‘n Bars | Comes a Time | Rust Never Sleeps | Hawks & Doves | Re-ac-tor | Trans | Everybody’s Rockin’ | Old Ways | Landing on Water | Life | This Note’s for You | Eldorado | Freedom | Ragged Glory | Harvest Moon | Sleeps with Angels | Mirror Ball | Broken Arrow | Silver & Gold | Are You Passionate? | Greendale | Prairie Wind | Living With War | Living With War: “In the Beginning | Chrome Dreams II | Fork in the Road | Le Noise | Americana | Psychedelic Pill | A Letter Home | Storytone
Filmography: A Day at the Gallery | CSNY/Deja Vu | Greendale | Human Highway | Rust Never Sleeps | Journey Through the Past
Books: Waging Heavy Peace | Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life and Cars
Awards: Canadian Music Hall of Fame | Officer of the Order of Canada | Juno Awards Artist of the Year | Grammy Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – August 17, 2006
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – March 9, 2006 | November 29, 2012
Follow: Website | @NeilYoung
Wednesday, October 15 (2014)
Justin Simien (Director: “Dear White People”)
Justin Simien is a writer, director, and film producer, whose new film Dear White People has been a breakout success this year at film festivals. Dear White People tells the story of four black students at a predominantly white college, which is going through a scandal after a group of white students throw an African-American themed party. The movie has been getting a lot of attention for its humor, satire, and honest portrayal of what it’s like to be a black young adult in modern America’s Ivy League. It was initially funded on crowd funding site Indiegogo after Simien shot a trailer that went viral online. The movie was filmed in under one month, and was then picked up by several film festivals and ultimately by independent distributor Code Red Films. Simien also runs a YouTube channel as a companion to the film, and will release a book, also entitled Dear White People, later this month. The film comes to theaters on October 17th.
Born: 1983
Education: Chapman University
Filmography: INST MSGS | Rings | Dear White People
Awards: Sundance Film Festival Breakthrough Talent | Variety Magazine 10 Directors to Watch | Indiewire’s Project of the Year
Follow: Website | @JSim07
Thursday, October 16 (2014)
William Deresiewicz (Author, “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life“)
William Deresiewicz is a journalist, former English professor, and author, who currently contributes to The Nation, The New Republic, and The American Scholar. He has been a vocal critic of the American higher education system, claiming in a famous essay from 2008 called “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” that going to an Ivy League college was not worthwhile, and that it serves only to train students to meet deadlines and aspire to climb corporate ladders, without training them to think about why. The essay went viral, and Deresiewicz’s new book expands on those ideas. Aside from his criticisms of the educational system, Deresiewicz is a staunch advocate of the humanities and a critic of science and engineering and computer science (too narrow-minded). He argues that education should be focused on making people introspective, rather than training them for careers, and he believes students today are too risk-averse and career-focused.
Born:1964 (Englewood, NJ)
Education: Columbia University
Books: A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter
Awards: Hiett Prize in the Humanities | Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing | Sidney Award
Follow: Website | @WDeresiewicz
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, October 13 (2014)
Matt Bai (Author: “All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid“)
Matt Bai is a journalist, screenwriter, and columnist at Yahoo News (he writes the “On Politics” column). His focus as a journalist has been primary politics, and long-term changes in society over generations. Before Yahoo, Bai was the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist at the New York Times, and his first job in journalism was as a speechwriter for UNICEF. He is a frequent guest on the Sunday political talk shows. His new book, All The Truth Is Out, uses Gary Hart’s 1987 affair as a way to talk about the beginning of tabloid journalism – when people started to closely follow politicians’ personal lives, 24-hour news became a thing, and political stories turned into entertainment.
Born: September 9, 1968 (Trumbull, Connecticut)
Education: Tufts University, Columbia University School of Journalism
Books: The Argument | All The Truth Is Out
Awards: Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
Follow: Website | @MattBai
Tuesday, October 14 (2004)
Zach Galifianakis (Actor, “Birdman”)
Zach Galifianakis is an actor and comedian, best known for his role in the Hangover movies and for his viral interview of Barack Obama on his Funny or Die web series “Between Two Ferns.” He is a stand-up comedian who shot a special for Comedy Central Presents, and had a few parts on television shows (including the short-lived fake news program Dog Bites Man) before landing his breakout role in The Hangover. Earlier this year, Galifianakis wrote a comedy pilot with Louis CK called Baskets, and it was order to series by FX for air in 2016. Galifianakis now stars in Birdman, a show business satirical movie about a struggling actor trying to make a comeback, which has been getting great reviews from critics. It will be released on October 17th.
Born: October 1, 1969 (Wilkesboro, NC)
Education: North Carolina State University
Filmography: Stella Shorts | Flushed | Heartbreakers | Bubble Boy | Corky Romano | Out Cold | Below | Into the Wild | What Happens in Vegas | Visioneers | The Ballad of G.I. Joe | Gigantic | The Hangover | G-Force | Up in the Air | Operation: Endgame | Little Fish, Strange Pond | Youth in Revolt | Dinner for Schmucks | It’s Kind of a Funny Story | Due Date | The Hangover Part II | Puss in Boots | The Muppets | Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie | The Campaign | The Hangover Part III | Are You Here | Muppets Most Wanted | Birdman | Loomis Fargo
Awards: MTV Movie Awards
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – November 2, 2010 | July 26, 2012
Follow: @GalifianakisZ | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, October 15 (2014)
Bill O’Reilly (Author: “Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General”)
Bill O’Reilly is a political pundit, author, and host of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News. He is best known for his angry delivery of conservative views on The O’Reilly Factor (although he labels himself as a “traditionalist”), his historical writing, and his shameless self-promotion. Opinionated, loud, smart, and controversial, O’Reilly has been a frequent guest on The Daily Show and was one of the main inspirations for The Colbert Report. He has been a consistently wonderful source of material for Comedy Central and a worthy debate partner for Jon Stewart (before the 2012 election, O’Reilly and Stewart debated for an hour and a half and sold the live stream as “The Rumble In An Air-Conditioned Auditorium.”) O’Reilly has written many political and historical nonfiction books and one work of fiction, a revenge fantasy about killing network executives called Those Who Trespass. His new book, Killing Patton, is the latest in his “killing” series, which profile historical figures.
Born: September 10, 1949
Education: Marist College | Boston University | Harvard University
Books: Those Who Trespass | The O’Reilly Factor | The No Spin Zone | Who’s Looking Out For You? | The O’Reilly Factor For Kids | Culture Warrior | Kids Are Americans Too | A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity | Pinheads and Patriots | Killing Lincoln | Lincoln’s Last Days | Killing Kennedy | Kennedy’s Last Days | Keep It Pithy | Killing Jesus | The Last Days of Jesus | Killing Patton
Awards: National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Governors’ Award
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – October 4, 2012 | September 28, 2011 | September 27, 2010 | November, 13, 2008 [Part 1] | [Part 2] | October 15, 2005 | October 7, 2004 [Part 1] | [Part 2] | March 14, 2002 | January 22, 2001
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interviews – January 18, 2007
Follow: Website | @O’ReillyFactor
Thursday, October 16 (2014)
Bryan Stevenson (Author: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption“)
Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, law professor at NYU, and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is a non-profit law practice focused on defending poor people, women, and people who are wrongly accused of crimes or given disproportionately harsh sentences. The initiative concentrates on issues of race and poverty, getting fewer children in prison, reducing mass incarceration, and making sure people don’t wrongly get the death penalty. Just Mercy tells the story of the Equal Justice Initiative and the ideas behind the organization.
Born: November 19, 1959
Education: Eastern University | Harvard Law School | Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Books: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Awards: Reebok Human Rights Award | ACLU National Medal of Liberty | MacArthur Fellowship | Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award | Public Interest Lawyer of the Year, National Association of Public Lawyers | Olaf Palme Prize
Better Know A Guest, October 13 – 16, 2014
Welcome to Better Know a Guest, your weekly guide to the wonderful and diverse array of personalities appearing on ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show’ each week.
Hello, Colbert News Hub! Great week of shows coming up before the break, I personally am enjoying the uptick in midterms-related news recently because there are only so many scary stories you can read and watch about ISIS and ebola. Races that could provide great material for the Report this week include a close one in Iowa between hog-castrator Joni Ernst and tongue-twister Bruce Braley (who recently got into a heated debate over dark money donations that she received from the Koch brothers and that he received from Michael Bloomberg), and one in Texas between sneaker-clad feminist Wendy Davis and attorney general Greg Abbott (a paraplegic, and the subject of Davis’s ill-advised attack ad which featured an ominous shot of his empty wheelchair). The week’s uplifting highlight was Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi’s Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for childrens’ rights.
Stephen’s guests this week are two authors, a musician, and an writer/director. Jon’s are a journalist, a comedian, a pundit, and a lawyer. Let us know who you’re excited to hear from this week, and what you’d like to see covered in the shows!
Monday, October 13 (2014)
Walter Isaacson (Author: “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution”)
Walter Isaacson is a journalist and a biographer, best known for his bestselling biography of Steve Jobs. Isaacson began his career as a journalist in the 70s, and eventually worked his way up to editor of TIME magazine. He went on to be CEO of CNN, and is now CEO of the Aspen Institute. Isaacson is also a board member of Teach For America, which sends young teachers into schools in poor neighborhoods, and vice-chair of Partners for a New Beginning, a group which works to strengthen ties between America and Muslim countries. Isaacson’s new book The Innovators profiles people who invented the precursors to computers and internet; he covers early inventions such as the programmable weaving loom, and the origin of computer bugs (a moth flew into a computer), all the way up to the internet and companies like Apple and Google.
Born: May 20, 1962 (New Orleans, LA)
Education:Harvard University, Oxford University
Books: Steve Jobs | Einstein: His Life and Universe | Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | Kissinger: A Biography | The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
Awards: Rhodes Scholarship | Time 100 | Benjamin Franklin Medal, Royal Society of the Arts
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – May 15, 2007
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – March 5, 2003 | October 23, 2003 | April 11, 2007 | February 10, 2009 | October 26, 2011
Follow: Website | @WalterIsaacson | Facebook
Tuesday, October 14 (2014)
Neil Young (Author: “Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life and Cars“)
Neil Young is a prolific Canadian rock/folk musician, who has released over 35 albums since his first in 1968. He has had a wide-ranging career including solo work and performing music as part of Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Young’s music is known for including elements of activism; he is an environmentalist, and a critic of the Iraq War. He has recently been touring the United States and Canada protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Young’s new album, Storytone, will be released on two disks; one features acoustic versions of all songs, while the other includes a 92-piece orchestra and choir. Aside from making music, Young has pursued other ventures, most recently the creation of a high resolution digital music player called Pono. Pono plays files that have a higher sound quality than MP3, which artists make available for purchase through Pono’s online music library. Young has also directed several music-related films under the pseudonym Bernard Sharkey, and has written two memoirs. His most recent, Special Deluxe, is about his lifelong love of cars.
Born: November 12, 1945
Discography (solo): Neil Young | Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | After the Gold Rush | Harvest | Time Fades Away | On the Beach | Tonight’s the Night | Zuma | Long May You Run | American Stars ‘n Bars | Comes a Time | Rust Never Sleeps | Hawks & Doves | Re-ac-tor | Trans | Everybody’s Rockin’ | Old Ways | Landing on Water | Life | This Note’s for You | Eldorado | Freedom | Ragged Glory | Harvest Moon | Sleeps with Angels | Mirror Ball | Broken Arrow | Silver & Gold | Are You Passionate? | Greendale | Prairie Wind | Living With War | Living With War: “In the Beginning | Chrome Dreams II | Fork in the Road | Le Noise | Americana | Psychedelic Pill | A Letter Home | Storytone
Filmography: A Day at the Gallery | CSNY/Deja Vu | Greendale | Human Highway | Rust Never Sleeps | Journey Through the Past
Books: Waging Heavy Peace | Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life and Cars
Awards: Canadian Music Hall of Fame | Officer of the Order of Canada | Juno Awards Artist of the Year | Grammy Award
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interview – August 17, 2006
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – March 9, 2006 | November 29, 2012
Follow: Website | @NeilYoung
Wednesday, October 15 (2014)
Justin Simien (Director: “Dear White People”)
Justin Simien is a writer, director, and film producer, whose new film Dear White People has been a breakout success this year at film festivals. Dear White People tells the story of four black students at a predominantly white college, which is going through a scandal after a group of white students throw an African-American themed party. The movie has been getting a lot of attention for its humor, satire, and honest portrayal of what it’s like to be a black young adult in modern America’s Ivy League. It was initially funded on crowd funding site Indiegogo after Simien shot a trailer that went viral online. The movie was filmed in under one month, and was then picked up by several film festivals and ultimately by independent distributor Code Red Films. Simien also runs a YouTube channel as a companion to the film, and will release a book, also entitled Dear White People, later this month. The film comes to theaters on October 17th.
Born: 1983
Education: Chapman University
Filmography: INST MSGS | Rings | Dear White People
Awards: Sundance Film Festival Breakthrough Talent | Variety Magazine 10 Directors to Watch | Indiewire’s Project of the Year
Follow: Website | @JSim07
Thursday, October 16 (2014)
William Deresiewicz (Author, “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life“)
William Deresiewicz is a journalist, former English professor, and author, who currently contributes to The Nation, The New Republic, and The American Scholar. He has been a vocal critic of the American higher education system, claiming in a famous essay from 2008 called “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” that going to an Ivy League college was not worthwhile, and that it serves only to train students to meet deadlines and aspire to climb corporate ladders, without training them to think about why. The essay went viral, and Deresiewicz’s new book expands on those ideas. Aside from his criticisms of the educational system, Deresiewicz is a staunch advocate of the humanities and a critic of science and engineering and computer science (too narrow-minded). He argues that education should be focused on making people introspective, rather than training them for careers, and he believes students today are too risk-averse and career-focused.
Born:1964 (Englewood, NJ)
Education: Columbia University
Books: A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter
Awards: Hiett Prize in the Humanities | Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing | Sidney Award
Follow: Website | @WDeresiewicz
And now, let’s check in with our good friend Jon Stewart over at the Daily Show!
Monday, October 13 (2014)
Matt Bai (Author: “All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid“)
Matt Bai is a journalist, screenwriter, and columnist at Yahoo News (he writes the “On Politics” column). His focus as a journalist has been primary politics, and long-term changes in society over generations. Before Yahoo, Bai was the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist at the New York Times, and his first job in journalism was as a speechwriter for UNICEF. He is a frequent guest on the Sunday political talk shows. His new book, All The Truth Is Out, uses Gary Hart’s 1987 affair as a way to talk about the beginning of tabloid journalism – when people started to closely follow politicians’ personal lives, 24-hour news became a thing, and political stories turned into entertainment.
Born: September 9, 1968 (Trumbull, Connecticut)
Education: Tufts University, Columbia University School of Journalism
Books: The Argument | All The Truth Is Out
Awards: Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
Follow: Website | @MattBai
Tuesday, October 14 (2004)
Zach Galifianakis (Actor, “Birdman”)
Zach Galifianakis is an actor and comedian, best known for his role in the Hangover movies and for his viral interview of Barack Obama on his Funny or Die web series “Between Two Ferns.” He is a stand-up comedian who shot a special for Comedy Central Presents, and had a few parts on television shows (including the short-lived fake news program Dog Bites Man) before landing his breakout role in The Hangover. Earlier this year, Galifianakis wrote a comedy pilot with Louis CK called Baskets, and it was order to series by FX for air in 2016. Galifianakis now stars in Birdman, a show business satirical movie about a struggling actor trying to make a comeback, which has been getting great reviews from critics. It will be released on October 17th.
Born: October 1, 1969 (Wilkesboro, NC)
Education: North Carolina State University
Filmography: Stella Shorts | Flushed | Heartbreakers | Bubble Boy | Corky Romano | Out Cold | Below | Into the Wild | What Happens in Vegas | Visioneers | The Ballad of G.I. Joe | Gigantic | The Hangover | G-Force | Up in the Air | Operation: Endgame | Little Fish, Strange Pond | Youth in Revolt | Dinner for Schmucks | It’s Kind of a Funny Story | Due Date | The Hangover Part II | Puss in Boots | The Muppets | Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie | The Campaign | The Hangover Part III | Are You Here | Muppets Most Wanted | Birdman | Loomis Fargo
Awards: MTV Movie Awards
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – November 2, 2010 | July 26, 2012
Follow: @GalifianakisZ | Facebook | Instagram
Wednesday, October 15 (2014)
Bill O’Reilly (Author: “Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General”)
Bill O’Reilly is a political pundit, author, and host of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News. He is best known for his angry delivery of conservative views on The O’Reilly Factor (although he labels himself as a “traditionalist”), his historical writing, and his shameless self-promotion. Opinionated, loud, smart, and controversial, O’Reilly has been a frequent guest on The Daily Show and was one of the main inspirations for The Colbert Report. He has been a consistently wonderful source of material for Comedy Central and a worthy debate partner for Jon Stewart (before the 2012 election, O’Reilly and Stewart debated for an hour and a half and sold the live stream as “The Rumble In An Air-Conditioned Auditorium.”) O’Reilly has written many political and historical nonfiction books and one work of fiction, a revenge fantasy about killing network executives called Those Who Trespass. His new book, Killing Patton, is the latest in his “killing” series, which profile historical figures.
Born: September 10, 1949
Education: Marist College | Boston University | Harvard University
Books: Those Who Trespass | The O’Reilly Factor | The No Spin Zone | Who’s Looking Out For You? | The O’Reilly Factor For Kids | Culture Warrior | Kids Are Americans Too | A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity | Pinheads and Patriots | Killing Lincoln | Lincoln’s Last Days | Killing Kennedy | Kennedy’s Last Days | Keep It Pithy | Killing Jesus | The Last Days of Jesus | Killing Patton
Awards: National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Governors’ Award
Previous ‘Daily Show’ Appearance(s): Interviews – October 4, 2012 | September 28, 2011 | September 27, 2010 | November, 13, 2008 [Part 1] | [Part 2] | October 15, 2005 | October 7, 2004 [Part 1] | [Part 2] | March 14, 2002 | January 22, 2001
Previous ‘Colbert Report’ Appearance(s): Interviews – January 18, 2007
Follow: Website | @O’ReillyFactor
Thursday, October 16 (2014)
Bryan Stevenson (Author: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption“)
Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, law professor at NYU, and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is a non-profit law practice focused on defending poor people, women, and people who are wrongly accused of crimes or given disproportionately harsh sentences. The initiative concentrates on issues of race and poverty, getting fewer children in prison, reducing mass incarceration, and making sure people don’t wrongly get the death penalty. Just Mercy tells the story of the Equal Justice Initiative and the ideas behind the organization.
Born: November 19, 1959
Education: Eastern University | Harvard Law School | Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Books: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Awards: Reebok Human Rights Award | ACLU National Medal of Liberty | MacArthur Fellowship | Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award | Public Interest Lawyer of the Year, National Association of Public Lawyers | Olaf Palme Prize