Gerald Early is Professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. A noted essayist and American culture critic, Early is the author of several books, including The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, and Modern American Culture, which won the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Early has edited volumes on the topics of African-American culture, jazz, and sports. His essays have appeared in numerous editions of the Best American Essays series, and he is a regular commentator on National Public Radio's Fresh Air. He has also served as a consultant on a number of Ken Burns' documentary films, including Baseball; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; Jazz and The War.