Christian Parenti is an American

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

, academic, and author.

Early life and education

Parenti is the son of Michael Parenti and Susan Parenti. He attended Buxton School in

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropol ...

The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

, and the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

, where he earned a PhD in Sociology and Geography.

Career

His books include ''Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis'' (2000), a survey of the rise of the prison-industrial complex from the Nixon through the Reagan Era and into the present, and ''The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War on Terror'' (2003), a study of

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and control in modern society. ''The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq'' (2004), is an account of the

US occupation of Iraq The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In ''Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence'' (2011), Parenti links the implications of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

with social and political unrest in mid-latitude regions of the world. Parenti has reported from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...

and China, among other locations. Parenti's reporting in Afghanistan was the subject of an award-winning HBO documentary, '' Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi''. Directed and edited by

Ian Olds Ian Olds is an American film director. His directing credits include the documentary '' Occupation: Dreamland'', which follows the 1/505 company of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fallujah, Iraq in early 2004 during the Iraq War. Olds also created t ...

, the film follows the working relationship between Parenti and his Afghan colleague

Ajmal Naqshbandi Ajmal is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * M. Ajmal, Pakistani film old best actor * Ajmal Ameer, Indian actor in Tamil and Malayalam film Industries * Ajmal Kasab, Pakistani terrorist * Ajmal Khattak, Pakista ...

, and after Naqshbandi's capture and murder by the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

, Parenti's investigation of that crime.

Academics

He was a visiting fellow at

CUNY The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven prof ...

's Center for Place, Culture and Politics and a Soros Senior Justice Fellow. Parenti has taught at the

New College of California New College of California was a college founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President John Leary. It ceased operations in early 2008. New College's main campus was housed in several buildings in the Missio ...

and at

St. Mary's College Saint Mary's College (in French, ''Collège Sainte-Marie''), is the name of several colleges and schools: Australia *St Mary's College, Ipswich, an all-girls Catholic school in Queensland *St Mary's College, Maryborough, a co-educational school i ...

Moraga, California Moraga is a town in Contra Costa County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As of 2020, Moraga had a total population of 16,870 people. Moraga is ...

. Parenti has also served as a professor of sustainable development at the

SIT Graduate Institute The School for International Training, widely known by its initials SIT, is a private non-profit regionally-accredited institution headquartered in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States. The institution has two main divisions. SIT Graduate Instit ...

. As of 2017, he is Associate Professor of Economics at

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal art ...

Personal life

He divides his time between

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Books

* ''Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis'' (1999) * ''The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War on Terror'' (2003) * ''The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq'' (2004) * ''Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence'' (2011) * ''Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder'' (2020)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parenti, Christian Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics New College of California American foreign policy writers American male non-fiction writers American male journalists American writers of Italian descent American political writers American investigative journalists 1969 births Journalists from New York City Buxton School (Massachusetts) alumni