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James Howard Kunstler was born in New York City in 1948. He is the author of numerous books, both nonfiction (including *The Geography of Nowhere*, *Home from Nowhere*, and *The Long Emergency*) and fiction (including *Maggie Darling*, *The Halloween Ball*, *An Embarrassment of Riches*, and *World Made by Hand*). He has been a regular contributor to the *New York Times Magazine* and the Op-Ed page, where he has written on environmental and economic issues.

Marleine Bastien is the founder, former president, and current Executive Director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, Inc. (Haitian Women of Miami). Marleine Bastien is considered a true leader in the Haitian community of South Florida. Marleine Bastien is one of the founders of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, an umbrella of 15 organizations that advocate for the rights of Haitian refugees. She has been recognized with several honorable awards. She was also named in the Miami Herald in 1999 as one of the "Forty Special People to Watch in the next Millennium."

British born Jane Green is a founding member of the genre known as "chick lit." Before writing for the *Daily Express* in London, Green worked for years in entertainment journalism and public relations. Her first book *Straight Talk* was written after she decided to leave the paper to do freelance writing. Green has had a string of international bestsellers.

An American Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. She is the first African-American woman to command a US Navy ship. In 2006, she was selected for the rank of Rear Admiral lower half, making her the first admiral selected from the United States Naval Academy class of 1982 and the first woman graduate of the United States Naval Academy selected for Admiral. In 2009, Howard was nominated for the rank of Rear Admiral upper half, and assumed command of Expeditionary Strike Group Two while deployed in the Gulf of Aden.

Dr. Tom Harbin has been practicing opthalmology with a specialty in glaucoma in Atlanta for more than 30 years and is a Clinical Professor Emeritus at Emory University.

Ilyon Woo is the New York Times best-selling author of Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom and The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine, and she has received support for her research from the Whiting Foundation, and National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Antiquarian Society, among other institutions. She holds a BA in the Humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University.

Dr. Bernard Powers received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1982. His major work is *Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822-1885*, (University of Arkansas Press,1994). which won a Choice Award for Best Academic Books in 1995. His article "Community Evolution and Race Relations in Reconstruction Charleston, S.C." was selected as one of the "Three Articles From A Century of Excellence" Centennial Volume 1900-2000 of *The South Carolina Historical Magazine 101* (July 2000): 214-233. He is presently conducting research on the history of the A.M.E. Church in South Carolina.

Helena Andrews is a graduate of Columbia University and has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times and Marie Claire. She lives in Washington, D.C., and is currently working on the film adaptation of Bitch Is the New Black with the creator of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, Shonda Rhimes.

PAUL ROGAT LOEB is the author of five books, including *Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times* (St Martin's Press 1999 and 2010, now with over 100,000 copies in print), and *The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear* (Basic Books, 2004) which was named the #3 political book of that year by the History Channel and the American Book Association. He has written on social involvement for The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, AARP Bulletin, Boston Globe, Psychology Today, and Utne Reader,among other publications. Loeb has lectured on 400 college campuses and at numerous national conferences.

Dabney is a native of South Carolina, a graduate of Berry College and a veteran of the Korean War. His early career was in journalism. He served on several newspapers in the South including The Atlanta Journal. He joined Lockheed-Georgia Company in 1965 as editor of its employee newspaper. He later handled PR on the C-130, C-141 and C-5 transport aircraft, from which job he is retired after a 24 year career there. He is the author of *Herk*, the definitive biography of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft, which is now in its third edition.