“Extremists often derive their inspiration from literal interpretations of texts that should rightly be read not as Associated Press reports from the ancient world, but as theological and literary enterprises requiring independent intellectual assessment.”

American writer, historian, and presidential biographer, born 1969

Jon Meacham is an American writer, historian, reviewer, and presidential biographer. He was born in 1969. He is known for his books on American political history and for winning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Meacham has held senior editorial roles at Random House and Newsweek, and he writes for The New York Times Book Review and Time. He is the Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral and holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University. His work often returns to the presidency, leadership, and the American past.