BOOKS

BUY: A Sliver Of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran
In this poignant memoir (2014), “the hikers” finally tell their side of the story. Told through a bold and innovative interweaving of the authors’ three voices, here is a rare glimpse inside Iran and a timeless portrayal of hardship and hope. 

“Riveting and necessary and illuminating in countless unexpected ways. The hikers have pulled off the almost impossible task of making from their hellish experience something of beauty and grace.”
--Dave Eggers

​“It is a triumph of writing born of a triumph of being. A Sliver of Light weaves a spellbinding tale of hard-won survival at the intersection of courage and love — the love of friends struggling to support one another in wretched circumstances, the unyielding bedrock of mothers’ love for their long-lost children, and the fiercely tested love of three people for the family of humankind.”
—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree

BUY: Hell Is A Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement
​An “elegant but harrowing” collection of writing from solitary confinement that lifts the veil on this widespread modern-day form of torture. A startling anthology that adds dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. Firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement.

“Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” ―President Barack Obama
 
“Elegant but harrowing.” ―San Francisco Chronicle
 
“A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“There were many points throughout the book when my emotions became overwhelming, and I had to pause and catch my breath.”
-- Chelsea Manning
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This book is vitally important.”
—Ralph Nader

BUY: Flying Kites: A Story of The 2013 California Prisoner Hunger Strike

A graphic novel I co-created on with a group of students and the Stanford Graphic Novel Project while I was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford in 2019. The content and storyline of this project drew heavily from my 3-year investigation into solitary confinement. 
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“One of the best pieces of graphic storytelling I have read in a while, on top of being about a topic close to my heart. Truly, it was brilliant.”
--Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do.

PEN America Review

"We will never achieve justice in this county until we have the courage to look unblinkingly into the hidden corners of our system of mass incarceration. This book does just that.

- VAN JONES

OF TWO MINDS

I wrote, edited, hosted, and co-produced a podcast about divisiveness in America, Of Two Minds, in which we asked two people with very different views to speak to each other as a sort of social experiment: A conversation between people that share something deeply in common and yet they remain deeply divided. First, I interviewed each guest separately and asked them about their life and what shaped their beliefs; next, they talked to each other and hashed things out.

  • Episode #1: “Matt & Jackie – A Sibling Gender War,” A conversation between scrappy writer Matt Sumell and his social justice warrior sister Jackie Sumell. They grew up in a household that was torn apart by a gender war. Decades later, that war still dominates their relationship.
  • Episode #2: “Peter & DeVone – Policing Ourselves”: A conversation between cop-scholar Peter Moskos and urban-peacekeeper DeVone Boggan on policing, race and “politically correct bullshit.” Both have committed their lives to reducing urban gun violence, one by reforming policing and the other by caring for criminals.
  • Episode #3: “We Could All Use a Little Warming”: A conversation between suburban-radical Tish O'Dell and Cajun-fisherman Mike Schaff about global warming and class. Both know what it is like for environmental destruction to threaten what they love the most, but only one thinks global warming is a “big deal.”
  • Episode #4: “Will Robots Be Racist?”: A conversation between Harvard-nerd Joscha Bach and diversity-evangelist Y-Vonne Hutchinson on bias in tech and the future of humanity. Y-Vonne fears artificial intelligence will reflect the blind spots of the computer geniuses developing it. Joscha is one of those geniuses.
  • Episode #5: “Van Jones – Problems with the Left”: A conversation with Van Jones about what he thinks the left still doesn’t understand.