Gerald Early is the author of "The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, & Modern American Culture" & the editor of "The Muhammad Ali Reader". He is Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters at Washington University in St. Louis.
Debra J. Dickerson holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.S. from St. Mary's University, and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. She is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and a columnist for beliefnet.com. She has been both a senior and a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report, and her writings have appeared in, among other periodicals, The New Republic, The Nation, Slate, The Village Voice, and Essence. She lives in Washington, D.C.