Anand Giridharadas, New York Times columnist and author of The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised there, in Paris, France, and in Maryland, and educated at the University of Michigan, Oxford and Harvard. He is a former consultant for McKinsey & Company and later reported from Bombay for the Herald Tribune and The Times for four and a half years. He wrote about India's transformation, Bollywood, corporate takeovers, terrorism, outsourcing, poverty and democracy. He was appointed a columnist in 2008, writing the "Letter from India" series, then the "Currents" column from 2009 to 2014, before starting the "Letter from America."
He has appeared regularly on television and the radio in the United States and internationally, including on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The Daily Show and beyond. He has lectured at Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the Sydney Opera House, the United Nations, the Asia Society, PopTech and Google. He has been honored twice by the Society of Publishers in Asia for opinion and feature writing, by the South Asian Journalists Association for business reportage, and by the Indo-American Society for promoting cross-cultural understanding.
The True American is about a Muslim immigrant's campaign to spare from Texas's Death Row the white supremacist who tried to kill him. It tells a story of our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter of Islam and the West, about how—or whether—we choose what we become. This guide provides information about the book and its themes.
The University Keynote Series is sponsored by the Honors Program, Academic Affairs, Multicultural Affairs, Theme Semester, Center for Teaching & Learning, LASC, and the Departments of English, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology.
Multiple copies on Reserve at Library Circulation Desk
