FIGHT OF THE CENTURY

A unique collaboration between the American Civil Liberties Union, Pulitzer Prizewinning author Michael Chabon, and novelist Ayelet Waldman, FIGHT OF THE CENTURY features original essays by the most influential voices writing today - including Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Neil Gaiman, Viet Than Nguyen, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, and more - each writing about a landmark ACLU case, published in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ACLU.

In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding. Once a small group of idealists including Helen Keller and Jane Addams, today the ACLU is the nation's premier defender of the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

A century ago, the individual freedoms named in the Constitution had never been fully tested in the courts, making them largely meaningless for ordinary people. Since then, principles of individual freedom, protection against arbitrary government action, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and press, due process of law, equal protection, and privacy have become codified in our laws and their protections widely enforced. The advancement of civil rights and social justice over the past century represents one of the most significant developments in American history, and the ACLU has been integral to this process. In fact, the ACLU has participated in more Supreme Court cases than any other private organization.

The ACLU is more active today than ever. Fundraising and membership spiked after the 2016 election; current membership is more than 1.5 million. Non-profit and non-partisan, the ACLU defends the civil liberties that define our democracy. Innovative and revealing, Fight of the Century captures the stories that have shaped America.

Years before the centennial, the ACLU invited Pulitzer Prizewinning author Michael Chabon and novelist Ayelet Waldman to edit an anthology of essays about landmark cases in the ACLU's 100-year history, Fight of the Century. Bestselling and award-winning authors quickly signed on to become contributors, each writing about a case that defined the organization's first 100 years. The collection highlights historic decisions like Brown v. Board of Education, the Scopes trial, Roe v. Wade, and more, in original pieces that range from personal memoir, to narrative history, to short story.

Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, A Model World, Wonder Boys, Werewolves in their Youth, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Summerland, The Final Solution, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Maps & Legends, Gentlemen of the Road, Telegraph Avenue, Moonglow, and the picture book The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.
Ayelet Waldman is the author of A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life, the novels Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and Daughter's Keeper, as well as of the essay collection Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace and the Mommy-Track Mystery series. She is the editor of Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons and Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation. She was a Federal public defender and an adjunct professor at the UC Berkeley law school where she developed and taught a course on the legal implications of the War on Drugs. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, Michael Chabon, and their four children.