The Author

John P. Avlon

John Avlon is author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics [Random House, 2005]. He served as Chief Speechwriter and Deputy Policy Director for Rudy Giuliani's 2008 Presidential Campaign. Previously, he was a columnist and associate editor for the New York Sun.

Avlon was the youngest and longest-serving speechwriter in Mayor Giuliani’s City Hall. After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, he and his team were responsible for writing the eulogies for all firefighters, police officers and emergency workers killed in the destruction of the World Trade Center. His essay on the attacks, “The Resilient City” concluded the anthology Empire City: New York through the Centuries and won acclaim as “the single best essay written in the wake of 9/11.”

Avlon has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and C-Span. He has spoken at the Yale, the Citadel, the Kennedy School of Government, the State Department’s visiting journalist program, and civic organizations around the nation.

In a profile, author Stephen Marshall wrote “Avlon talks about politics the way ESPN anchors wrap up sports highlights.” Columnist Kathleen Parker wrote, “Americans who are fed up with the Ann Coulter/Michael Moore school of debate and are looking for someone to articulate a commonsense, middle path, may have found their voice in John Avlon.”