Inactive

A leading scholar of American cultural history, Lauren Sklaroff is Associate Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. Her areas of research include all elements of popular culture, and the history of race and ethnicity in the U.S.. She taught previously at George Mason University, held a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, and was an assistant curator for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Her first book, Black Culture and the New Deal: The Quest for Civil Rights in the Roosevelt Era, explained the government’s extensive use of racially-oriented cultural programs during the Depression and World War Two. In its review of the book, H-Net called the book, “A valuable addition to the growing history of the ‘long’ civil rights movement.” Reviews in American History stated, “Black Culture and The New Deal is a nuanced and highly effective exploration of the discourses about race and inequality in the theater, radio, print culture, and motion pictures of the era.” In 2002, she won the Organization of American Historian’s esteemed Louis Pelzer Memorial Award for her essay on the boxer, Joe Louis.

Lauren’s new book, Red Hot Mama: The Life of Sophie Tucker, is based on years of research in the Sophie Tucker Scrapbook Collection at the New York Public Library, as well as several other prominent archives relating to popular culture, Jewish History, and African American History. The book was supported by a fellowship from the New York Public Library as well as the University of South Carolina Provost Humanities Grant, and an NEH public scholars fellowship.

Andrei Hagiu is a Visiting Associate Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He was previously an Associate Professor in the Strategy unit at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on multi-sided platforms and their unique strategic challenges. His work has been published in the RAND Journal of Economics, Management Science, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, and the Harvard Business Review. Andrei serves as a coeditor for the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy. He is co-author, with Richard Schmalensee and David Evans, of Invisible Engines, published by MIT Press.

Along with John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago, Bill Patrick is co-author of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, published by W. W. Norton. Translated into ten languages, Loneliness was chosen as one of Library Journal’s Best Science Books of The Year.

Bill has also edited many New York Times bestsellers, among them 10% Happier, by ABC TV’s Dan Harris, and Legacy of Ashes by New York Times journalist Tim Weiner. His other co-writing credits include Better, by Good Morning America News Anchor Amy Robach; In My Shoes, by Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon; Paul Zak’s The Moral Molecule; and Colonel Matthew Bogdanos’ Thieves of Baghdad.

At Little, Brown, Harvard University Press, and Henry Holt, Bill edited works by Nobel laureate Sir Peter Medawar, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner E. O. Wilson, two-time National Book Award finalist Melissa Fay Greene, the Atlantic’s Jack Beatty, Jane Goodall, Stephen Jay Gould, National Book Award winning poet Robert Bly, business gurus Kevin Kelly, Warren Bennis, and Michael Treacy, as well as basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson. He developed bestsellers in categories ranging from business, politics, medical self-help, science, and technology, to psychology and spirituality (including the #1 New York Times bestseller Iron John).