Amanda Ripley Author of The Unthinkable

Amanda Ripley

About

Amanda Ripley, a senior writer at TIME Magazine, has traveled the world studying disasters, natural and manmade. Her book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — and Why, is the first mass-market book to explain how the brain works in disasters — and how we can learn to do better.

In 2005, Amanda covered Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from New Orleans, La., helping TIME win two National Magazine Awards. On Sept. 11, 2001, Amanda was in New York City. That day and for years afterwards, she wrote extensively about the attacks, the victims and the recovery of the city and the survivors.

What makes Amanda’s work unusual is that she doesn’t just explain what happened; she obsessively investigates why people do what they do, and how we can do better, combining science and practical lessons with literary storytelling. Here are some examples of her most popular stories:

Amanda has also been integrally involved in TIME’s Person of the Year cover stories, from the 2001 Person of the Year profile of Rudy Giuliani to TIME’s 2002 People of the Year cover story on the FBI, WorldCom and Enron whistleblowers. In 2004, she traveled to India and Bangladesh to write the People of the Year cover profile of Bill and Melinda Gates.

To discuss her work, Amanda has appeared on ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX News, CNBC, MSNBC and international, national and local radio shows.

Before joining TIME, Amanda covered the D.C. court system for Washington City Paper and reported on Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly. She has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Monthly and Time Out. Amanda graduated with a BA in Government from Cornell University. She has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the Washington Monthly, among others, and she is a two-time Livingston Award finalist.

Amanda currently covers risk and homeland security for TIME Magazine from Washington, DC. (That said, and you knew this was coming, the comments on this site are entirely personal and are not intended to represent the views of TIME or anyone else.)