Keith (K.) Scott Christianson (August 8, 1947 – May 14, 2017)Casey Seiler.
Scott Christianson, 69, acclaimed journalist, author and advocate: Longtime Capital Region resident delved into past and present of race in America
" ''timesunion.com,'' May 16, 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2019. was an American author and journalist, who wrote several popular works about a variety of subjects, including

American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

and politics,

forensic science Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

, crime, prison and the death penalty, and about other popular subjects such as the history of

incarceration Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

runaway slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called fre ...

and historical highlights of visualization.

Biography

Christianson was raised in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in 1965. During his work he continued his studies. He graduated at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, and took a course in investigative reporting at the

American Press Institute The American Press Institute is an educational non-advocacy 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the News Media Alliance (formerly the Newspaper Association of America). The institute's mission is to encourage the advancement of news ...

. Eventually at the

State University of New York at Albany The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the State University of N ...

he obtained his M.A. and in 1981 his PhD with the thesis, entitled ''The American Experience of Imprisonment, 1607–1776.'' Christianson had begun his career after high school in 1965 in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

as investigating reporter at the Bethlehem Star and the Knickerbocker News-Union Star. In the 1980s he moved into the public service sector, where he held several positions in the criminal justice system in the state of New York. Later in the 1990s he worked for multiple advocacy and reform organizations, and eventually turned to full-time writing and teaching. From 1969 to 1972 Christianson had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.John C. Behrens. ''The typewriter guerillas: closeups of 20 top investigative reporters,'' 1977. p. 75.

Selected publications

* '' The American Experience of Imprisonment, 1607–1776,''

, 1981. * '' With Liberty for Some: 500 Years of Imprisonment in America,'' Northeastern, 1998. * '' Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House,'' NYU Press, 2000. * '' Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases,'' NYU, 2003. * '' Notorious Prisons: Inside the World's Most Feared Institutions,'' The Lyons Press, 2004. * '' Bodies of Evidence: Forensic Science and Crime,'' Collins and Brown, 2006. * '' The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber,''

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 2010. * '' 100 Diagrams That Changed the World,'' Plume, October 30, 2012. *'' 100 Documents That Changed the World,'' Universe, Annotated edition, November 10, 2015. * ''100 Books that Changed the World,'' with Colin Salter, 2018.

References

External links

Scott Christianson
at scottchristianson.org. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christianson, Scott 1947 births 2017 deaths American male journalists American male non-fiction writers University of Connecticut alumni University at Albany, SUNY alumni