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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Originally from West Baltimore, Ta-Nehisi Coates was educated in the city's public school system and became a notoriously bad student. His mother was a teacher; his father was a book publisher. So naturally Coates was often punished by being forced to write essays explaining his wayward behavior. He has since credited these essays as his first introduction to writing as a way of expression.

A decade later, Coates attended Howard University, where he took an internship at the local alternative newspaper. This opportunity ultimately turned into a job that he left school to pursue. In 1998, Ta-Nehisi won the Washington Area Society of Professional Journalists award for outstanding arts criticism.

As a staff writer for the Village Voice in New York City, Coates wrote a mix of personal essays and reported pieces. This work included a cover story ("Keeping It Unreal") which was anthologized in the serial book, Best American Music Writing and in the anthology, AND IT DON'T STOP: Best Hip-Hop Journalism Of The Past 25 Years.

Coates recently left a two-year post as a staff writer at TIME magazine to focus on writing his childhood memoir, The Beautiful Struggle (Spiegel & Grau, Summer 2008). He also is currently freelancing for various publications, which include the Atlantic Monthly, O Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, Washington Monthly and The New Yorker.

Coates lives in Manhattan with his son Samori and partner Kenyatta.

Selected Articles and Appearances:

The Henry Louis Gates Affair: When Race Matters
Article | TIME | July 30, 3009

Ta-Nehisi Coates' 'Unlikely Road to Manhood'
Appearance | Fresh Air from WHYY on NPR | February 18, 2009

Green Carpet
Article | The New Yorker | February 2, 2009

Obama and the Myth of a Black Messiah
Article | TIME | November 13, 2008

For Blacks, A Quiet Question: What if Obama Loses?
Article | TIME | October 9, 2008

A Deeper Black
Article | The Nation | May 1, 2008

'This Is How We Lost to the White Man'
Article | The Atlantic | May 2008



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The Great American Stickup

How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street

By Robert Scheer

"One of the best reporters of our time."—Joan Didion

In The Great American Stickup, celebrated journalist Robert Scheer uncovers the hidden story behind one of the greatest financial crimes of our time: the Wall Street financial crash of 2008 and the consequent global recession. Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.

Check out Scheer's book tour!

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