Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide lives is a linguist educator who works for social justice. Before serving as Haiti's first democratically elected president, Aristide was an ordained Catholic priest. His second term in office was cut short by a coup d'etat that forced him into exile. In 2007 he earned a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in African Languages from the University of South Africa. He has recently returned to Haiti from exile in South Africa.
Benjamin Barber was born in 1939. He studied at the Albert Schweitzer College, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Grinnell College, and Harvard University. He currently holds the Walt Whitman Chair of Political Science at Rutgers University. He is also the Director of the Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy. Barber is a noted writer and commentator on the American political scene with such works as An Aristocracy of Everyone, Strong Democracy, and Jihad vs McWorld. In addition to his books, Barber is a frequent contributor to such magazines as The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, and The New York Times. He coauthored the prize-winning, ten-part PBS/CBC… television series The Struggle for Democracy. Barber is also a playwright. He has held Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships.