Thaddeus Russell teaches history and American Studies at Occidental College and has taught at Columbia University, Barnard College, Eugene Lang College, and the New School for Social Research. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, he graduated from Antioch College and received a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. His first book, Out of the Jungle: Jimmy Hoffa and the Re-Making of the American Working Class, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2001. He is a frequent contributor to The Daily Beast and has published articles in New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Salon, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as scholarly essays in American Quarterly and The Columbia History of Post-World War II America. He also appeared on the History Channel and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."