Jonathan Alter, author of The Promise: President Obama, Year One, was born and raised in Chicago, “six blocks from Wrigley Field.” His political roots in the city go far back. “My mother was the first woman ever elected to public office in Cook County, in 1972,” Alter said. Below, Alter, who has worked spent 27 years covering politics for Newsweek, tells us more about himself.
Wilbert Rideau spent 44 years in Louisiana’s infamous Angola penitentiary. While there, he served for 25 years as editor of The Angolite, the nation’s only uncensored prisoner-produced publication. He is author of In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance. Below, Rideau tells us a bit more about himself.
Michael Hiltzik, a longtime reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, had been writing about water issues when he started considering writing about the Hoover Dam. But the book that would become Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century also had a practical appeal for Hiltzik, whose last book examined more recent history. “I had interviewed 300 people and felt that they were looking over my shoulder as I wrote,” he said. “I thought it be an interesting change to write a book of history where I had the last word.” Below, Hiltzik answers our In The Green Room Q&A.
Kathay Feng is the Executive Director of California Common Cause, and author of Proposition 11 — California’s successful redistricting reform. Before chatting onstage about direct democracy in the state, Feng sat down for our In The Green Room Q&A.
Andreas Gross is a member of the Swiss Federal Parliament, and the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, where he leads the Social Democrats. Gross is also an advocate for transnational direct democracy in Europe. He came to Zócalo to discuss Zurich’s political system. Below, he answers our In The Green Room Q&A.
Mohamed's Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland
