Theodore Hamm is the founding editor of The Brooklyn Rail, an award-winning journal of urban politics and culture. He is the author of two works of American political history, Rebel and a Cause (California, 2001) and The New Blue Media (New Press, 2008). A past recipient of San Quentin’s distinguished volunteer service award for his teaching in the prison’s college program, Hamm is currently an associate professor of urban studies at Metropolitan College of New York. Hank Thompson’s Blues is his first novel.