About
Amanda Ripley, a longtime TIME Magazine contributor, writes about human behavior and public policy. Her book, , is the first major book to explain how the brain works in disasters — and how we can learn to do better.
Amanda is a literary pragmatist. In her book and in her work for TIME and other magazines, she obsessively investigates the mysteries of human behavior—not just what we do, but why. For TIME and the Atlantic, she has chronicled the stories of American kids and teachers alongside groundbreaking new research into education reform. From New Orleans, La., she covered Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, helping TIME win two National Magazine Awards for stories that detailed the years of dysfunction leading up to the storms. She covered 9/11 from Manhattan, the sniper attacks from Washington and the catastrophic 2003 European heat wave from Paris.
Over the years, Amanda has written or contributed to more than a dozen TIME cover stories, including Person-of-the-Year profiles of Bill and Melinda Gates, Rudy Giuliani, FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley and WorldCom Whistleblower Cynthia Cooper. She is currently an Emerson fellow at the New America Foundation, where she is studying kids, parents and public schools around the world.
- “What Makes a Great Teacher?”
- “How to Get Out Alive: The Science of Evacuation”
- “How We Got Homeland Security Wrong”
- “Hurricane Katrina: How did this happen?”
- “The Gangs of New Orleans”
- “Can Michelle Rhee Save Our Schools?”
- “The Fort Dix Terrorism Conspiracy”
- “The Story of Barack Obama’s Mother”
Amanda’s book, The Unthinkable, has been published in 15 countries. It was described by the New York Times as “a fascinating and useful new book” and by NPR as “The thinking person’s manual for getting out alive.” To discuss her work, Amanda has appeared on ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX News and NPR. She has briefed staff at the Pentagon, the Senate, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Peace Corps and FEMA, and she has spoken at conferences on leadership, homeland security, emergency preparedness and public health.
Amanda’s work has also appeared in the Atlantic, Slate, the New York Times Magazine, the Times of London, National Geographic Adventure and the Washington Monthly. She has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the Washington Monthly, among others. Before joining TIME, Amanda covered the D.C. court system for Washington City Paper and reported on Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a BA in Government from Cornell University.
Currently, Amanda writes feature magazine stories from Washington, D.C.
Contact
Upcoming Events
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Teach for America Enters AdulthoodThursday, February 24, 2011
The Unthinkable in CongressMonday, February 28, 2011
Superman Panel in DCThursday, August 4, 2011
In the ArenaMonday, November 14, 2011
Playing the Odds in Vegas
