Stephen Bates received his J.D.cum laude degree from Harvard Law School and also holds his B.A. magna cum laude degree from Harvard College. Prior to joining the School, he was literary editor for Wilson Quarterly. He also consulted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. His Secularization and Its Discontents  is under contract with Yale University Press. Bates has published four other books focusing on political advertising (MIT Press); media and congress (Publishing Horizons); rumors and American journalism (St. Martin’s press and Henry Holt paperback); and public schools and the religious right (Poseidon Press/Simon & Shuster and Henry Holt paperback).  His 1995 monograph on the Hutchins Commission was written when he was an Annenberg Senior Fellow. He has taught at Johns Hopkins University and been a guest lecturer at Harvard College, MIT, New York University, and Northwestern University.