This week we are talking to Garrett Graff about his book The Only Plane In the Sky, It is a chilling account of September 11, 2001 told by the stories of the people that witnessed, Responded to and were directly impacted by that day.
Guest Bio
Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist, bestselling historian, and regular TV commentator has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security—helping to explain where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
Today, he serves as the director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program, and is a contributor to WIRED, Longreads, and CNN. He’s written for publications from Esquire to the New York Times, and served as the editor of two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine, which he helped lead to its first National Magazine Award, the industry’s highest honor.
Graff is the author of multiple books, including The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House, which examined the role of technology in the 2008 presidential race, and The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI, which traces the history of the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts. His book, Raven Rock, a national bestseller, about the government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, was published in May 2017, and his most recent book, co-authored with John Carlin, examined the rise of cyber threats, Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat.
Inside both journalism and politics, he has a long history as a new media pioneer. He was the founding editor of mediaBistro.com’s FishbowlDC (www.FishbowlDC.com), a popular blog that covers the media and journalism in Washington, and co-founder of EchoDitto, Inc., a multi-million-dollar Washington, D.C.-based internet strategy consulting firm. During his time at FishbowlDC, he was the first blogger admitted to cover a White House press briefing in 2005, a moment considered significant enough that his reporter’s notebook from that first briefing is on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. A Vermont native and graduate of Harvard, he served as deputy national press secretary on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and, beginning in 1997, was then-Governor Dean’s first webmaster.
He taught at Georgetown University for seven years, including courses on journalism and technology, and his writing and commentary has appeared in publications like the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New York, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone, 5280, Politico, AARP Magazine, Eater, Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, USA Today, GQ UK, NextCity, and he has appeared on CBS This Morning, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBC, the BBC, Al Jazeera English, the History Channel, National Geographic, and various NPR programs, including “This American Life,” “Fresh Air,” and “All Things Considered.” His reporting has been cited on shows ranging from Stephen Colbert to John Oliver to Rachel Maddow.
He also is the chair of the board of the National Conference on Citizenship, a congressionally-charted civic engagement group founded by Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, and serves on the board of Vermont Public Radio and the Burlington Housing Authority.
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagraff/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vermontgmg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vermontgmg
Website: https://www.garrettgraff.com/
Email garrett.graff@gmail.com
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