Jonah Raskin was born in New York and raised on Long Island. He attended Columbia College, and the University of Manchester, England where he received his Ph.D. He has taught at Winston-Salem State College, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Sonoma State University (SSU). He moved to California in 1975, and since 1988 he has been the chair of the communication studies department at SSU, where he teaches media law, reporting and media marketing. As a Fulbright Professor, he taught American literature at the University of Antwerp and the University of Ghent. From 1985-2005 he was the book critic for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. He is the author of eight books, including The Mythology of Imperialism, Out of the Whale, My Search for B. Traven, Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives: Northern California Writers and Their Work, For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman, and American Scream; Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Making of the Beat Generation. He has published three poetry chapbooks: Jonah Raskin's Greatest Hits, More Poems, Better Poems and Bone Love.