John McWhorter is a renowned linguist and is the author of twelve books including the New York Times bestseller Losing the Race: Self-Sabatoge in Black America, The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. He teaches linguistics and Western Civilization at Columbia University, is a Contributing Editor at the New Republic, and has appeared widely in broadcast media including The Newshour with Jim Lehrer and Fresh Air. He lives in New York.