Jonathan Mahler describes his new book, *The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power*. It is the authorized account of a landmark court case on presidential power and the rule of law in the history of the Supreme Court. After confessing to being Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan was transferred to Guantánamo Bay and he was designated by President Bush for trial before a special military tribunal. Mahler explores the stories of Hamdan's attorney Lt. Commander Charles Swift and his assistant Neal Katyal, a young constitutional law professor at Georgetown University. Mahler is a writer for *The New York Times Magazine* and the author of *Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning*.
Jonathan Mahler is the author of *The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)*, which grew out of an article he wrote in June 2004 for *The New York Times Magazine*. He is also the author of the best-selling book *Ladies and Gentlemen*, *The Bronx Is Burning*, a 2004 *New York Times* *Notable Book* that was adapted as an eight-part dramatic miniseries for ESPN starring John Turturro. Mahler is a contributing writer for *The Times Magazine*, where he has written about everything from baseball to politics to religion. His work has appeared in a variety of other publications, including *The New York Times Book Review*, *New York magazine*, *The New Republic and Slate*. A 1990 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, Mahler lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Danielle Mattoon and their children, Gus and Nora.