About the Author

Maria Ressa is the co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending freedom of expression and democracy. She is CEO, cofounder, and president of Rappler, the Philippines' top digital news site, and has been a journalist in Asia for over thirty-six years. She was TIME Magazine's Person of the Year in 2018 and won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in 2021. Among the many other awards she has received are the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists, the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University, and the Sergei Magnitsky Award for Investigative Journalism. She grew up in the Philippines and the United States and currently lives in Manila.

Reviews

"[Maria's] book takes us on a rare and wonderous hero's journey that teaches us how to be heroes too. Ressa invites us into her . . . thrilling life story . . . . As she transforms from shy schoolgirl, to Princeton polymath, to pathbreaking journalist and warrior for democracy, the same candor and generosity that define her distinctive courage infuse her storytelling with magical power. We experience Maria Ressa's becoming, and we become more too--more prepared to embrace fear, paddle against the tide, commit to loving kindness, link arms, challenge the supposedly inevitable, and even stand up to dictators." -- Shoshana Zuboff, author The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Professor emeritus Harvard Business School"[Ressa's] courageous work has garnered well-deserved international attention, and her book serves as a readable, urgent plea for journalistic integrity, vigilance, and transparency. . . . An indispensable journalist presents an impassioned, well-informed warning about vital global issues." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Nobel Peace Prize cowinner Ressa . . . delivers an outstanding memoir-cum-action plan for creating "a vision of the internet that binds us together instead of tearing us apart" . . . . Elegantly written yet stuffed with research data and technical details, this is an essential update on the battle against disinformation." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"In this impassioned warning and inspirational call to arms, Ressa identifies and illuminates her core values of empathy, honesty, and faith in humanity to illustrate how a strong commitment to such foundational beliefs can provide the key to democracy's survival. . . . Searing and electrifying." -- Booklist (starred review)