Dinesh D'Souza

Writer and Young Political Thinker

Dinesh graduated from St. Stanislaus High School in 1976. He completed his 11th and 12th at Sydenham College, and then came to the United States as an exchange student. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1983, did graduate work at Princeton, and then went to Washington in 1985.

Dinesh is the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Dinesh has been called one of the "top young public-policy makers in the country" by Investor's Business Daily. The New York Times Magazine named him one of America's most influential conservative thinkers. The World Affairs Council lists him as one of the nation's 500 leading authorities on international issues. Newsweek cited him as one of the country's most prominent Asian Americans.

Before joining the Hoover Institution, Dinesh was the John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In 1987-88 he served as senior policy analyst at the Reagan White House. From 1985 to 1987 he was managing editor of Policy Review. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983.

Dinesh's books have had a major influence on public opinion and public policy. His two most recent books are the New York Times bestseller What's So Great About America (Penguin Books) and Letters to a Young Conservative (Basic Books). In 1991 he published Illiberal Education the first book to publicize the phenomenon of political correctness. The book was widely acclaimed and became a New York Times bestseller for 15 weeks. It has been listed as one of the most influential books of the 1990's.

In 1995 Dinesh published The End of Racism, which became one of the most controversial books of the time and a national bestseller. Dinesh's 1997 book Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader was the first book to make the case for Reagan's intellectual and political importance. In 2000, Dinesh published The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values in an Age of Techno Affluence, which explores the social and moral implications of wealth.

Dinesh's articles have appeared in virtually every major magazine and newspaper, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, New Republic, and National Review. He has appeared on numerous television programs, including the Today Show, Nightline, The News Hour, O'Reilly Factor, and the Dennis Miller Show.

Dinesh speaks at top universities and business groups across the country.