| December 2005

Susan Jacoby (“Original Intent”) is the author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, which was named a notable nonfiction book of 2004 by the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of six previous books, including Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter’s Search for Her Family’s Buried Past. Jacoby is working on a new book exploring the relationship between anti-intellectualism and American politics.

John Sugg (“A Nation Under God”) is senior editor for the Creative Loafing group of alternative newsweeklies. Before joining Tampa’s Weekly Planet in 1995, he wrote and edited for the Miami Herald, Atlanta Constitution, Palm Beach Post, and American Lawyer. He is at work on a book on the history of the antievolution movement in Georgia.

Karen Houppert (“Professing Faith”), a former staff writer for the Village Voice, has won several awards for her coverage of gender politics, including a National Women’s Political Caucus Award and a Casey Journalism Fellowship. She is the author of The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation and the Obie Award-winning play The Boys in the Basement, based on her coverage of a rape trial in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, as well as several other plays.

Adam Piore (“A Higher Frequency”) is a freelance writer whose recent work has appeared in magazines ranging from Maxim to Christianity Today. He spent four years as an editor for Newsweek International, where he covered the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq war from aboard the aircraft carrier the USS Harry S. Truman and was embedded with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment for two months.

Debra J. Dickerson (When My Light Is Almost Gone) is a contributing writer for Mother Jones and the author of The End of Blackness and the memoir An American Story.

Christopher Anderson (When My Light Is Almost Gone), the son of a preacher, is a Magnum photographer. In 2000, he received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his photographs of Haitian immigrants trying to sail to America. During the past several years, he has documented conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel.

Sara Catania (“Death Row Conversion”), a frequent contributor to Mother Jones, specializes in stories on criminal and social justice. She was a 2004 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow.

John Hersey (feature illustrations) is an illustrator based in Northern California. His work has appeared in such publications as Vibe, Wired, The Face, Le Monde, Atlantic Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal.