Benjamin Skinner

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E. Benjamin Skinner (born May 4, 1976) is a writer on modern-day slavery[1] and Founder and President of Transparentem.[2]

Career[edit]

Skinner began his career at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, where he focused on U.S. foreign policy.[3][failed verification] While at the Council in August 2001, he met veteran diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke.[4] Skinner soon became "one of Holbrooke’s youngest protégés,"[5] and his Special Assistant for the next three years. Subsequently, he also worked for journalist David Halberstam[6] and Gen. Stanley McChrystal (U.S. Army, Ret.).[7] In 2003, while on assignment in Sudan for Newsweek International, Skinner met his first survivor of slavery.[8]

As a writer, Skinner has infiltrated trafficking networks and slave quarries, urban child markets and illegal brothels, going undercover when necessary.[9] His work has appeared in Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, Travel + Leisure, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, among others.[10][failed verification]

The New York Times and The Boston Globe called Skinner's first book, A Crime So Monstrous, "devastating."[11] The book was awarded the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction,[12] as well as a citation from the Overseas Press Club in its book category for 2008.[citation needed] He was also named one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year 2008.[citation needed] The book was published in Czech, German, Korean, Italian, and Polish translations. Chapters from the book have been adapted for an Emmy Award-winning episode of ABC's Nightline and for NBC's Law & Order.[13]

Starting in 2009, Skinner was a Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University,[10][failed verification] where he focused on tracing slavery in corporate supply chains from theaters like the New Zealand fishing industry[14] and Indonesian palm oil plantations[15] to U.S. and Chinese consumer markets. Previously, he was the first fellow for human trafficking at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.[9] In 2011, the World Economic Forum named Skinner one of its Young Global Leaders,[10][failed verification] and he formerly served on the Forum's Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade.[13] Skinner is a former senior vice president at Tau Investment Management.[2]

Personal[edit]

Skinner was raised in Wisconsin and northern Nigeria where his father served as a British colonial administrator.[9] Skinner comes from a long line of abolitionists. His great-great-grandfather, Robert Pratt, served with the 1st Connecticut Artillery at the Siege of Petersburg, which led to Lee's surrender at Appomattox.[12] Skinner received his bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University.[10][failed verification] He currently lives in Manhattan, NY.[16]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Crimes of War 2.0: What The Public Should Know (Revised and Expanded) (Essay by Skinner, Editors Anthony Dworkin, Roy Gutman and David Rieff) (W.W. Norton & Company, 2007) ISBN 0393328465
  • A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery (Free Press, 2008). ISBN 978-0-7432-9008-1
  • The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World (Essay by Skinner, Editors Derek Chollet and Samantha Power) (PublicAffairs, 2011) ISBN 1610390784

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Mariane Pearl: 'I was not born the day Daniel died' - INSP News Service". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  2. ^ a b "Transparentem Bringing Transparency to Human and Environmental Abuse".
  3. ^ "E. Benjamin Skinner | HuffPost". HuffPost.
  4. ^ The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World (Essay by Skinner, Editors Derek Chollet and Samantha Power)(PublicAffairs, 2011) ISBN 1610390784
  5. ^ Mead, Walter Russell (2012-02-14). "The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World". Foreign Affairs (March/April 2012).
  6. ^ Halberstam, David The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (Hyperion, 2008) ISBN 0786888628
  7. ^ McChrystal, Stanley My Share of the Task: A Memoir (Portfolio, 2013) ISBN 1591844754
  8. ^ "Adventure". Archived from the original on December 10, 2008.
  9. ^ a b c "Carr Center: Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery". Archived from the original on June 11, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d "The Forum of Young Global Leaders".
  11. ^ Meier, Mary H. (19 February 2009). "Shining a light on today's slaves". Boston.com.
  12. ^ a b "Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Benjamin Skinner, 2009 Nonfiction Winner".
  13. ^ a b "E. Benjamin Skinner | Staff | About the Institute | Schuster Institute | Brandeis University".
  14. ^ "The Fishing Industry's Cruelest Catch". Bloomberg.com. 24 February 2012. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012.
  15. ^ "Indonesia's Palm Oil Industry Rife with Human-Rights Abuses". Bloomberg.com. 20 July 2013. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013.
  16. ^ "E. Benjamin Skinner".
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