DOUGLAS CENTURY is an author, journalist and screenwriter, born in Calgary, Canada, and graduated cum laude from Princeton University.  Century has written for The New York Times, Details, Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, Radar, Blender, Vibe, ARTNews and The Guardian.  He is a contributing editor at Tablet Magazine: a New Read on Jewish Culture.

As a non-fiction author, Century's subjects have ranged from Jewish-American culture, inner-city gangs, organized-crime, undercover police investigations and the history of prizefighting.  Century's debut book, Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse (Warner Books, 1999) was widely hailed by critics. Publishers Weekly, awarding Street Kingdom its starred lead nonfiction review for the week of November 30, 1998, described the book as “a heady mixture of reportage and memoir . . . at once mesmerizing, humorous and tragic.”

Novelist Richard Price wrote of Street Kingdom: “Putting his heart and mind (and sometimes his ass) on the line, Douglas Century has yielded that most elusive of journalistic treasures—something very close to the truth.”  The book also received major media coverage in national publications such as The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The New Yorker and Time.  Street Kingdom is currently in development by Conquering Lion Pictures as a feature film with Century and and award-winning director Clement Virgo co-writing the screenplay.

Century's second book was a collaborative work with New York Police Department Detective Richard Cowan, Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire, a New York Times best-selling account of Detective Cowan’s unprecedented infiltration of the upper echelons of New York’s Cosa Nostra Families, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in October 2002.  The book was a finalist for the 2003 Edgar Award in the category of Best Nonfiction Crime Book.  As read by actor Christopher Meloni, Takedown was also a finalist in the Audie Awards for the best audio book of 2003.

Century's most recent book Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, was published by NextBook Press and the Knopf Group in hardcover in 2006 and in trade paper in 2009.  The first biography of Barney Ross, the world's lightweight and welterweight boxing champion in the mid-1930s and a decorated Marine Sergeant who earned a Silver Star at the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II, the book was a top-seller among Jewish-themed books, and was greeted by widespread critical acclaim. 

"This is an excellent story of a man and his times. And proof positive that time does not relinquish its hold over men or monuments. In a sport devoted to fashioning halos for its superstars, Ross wore a special nimbus, and this book properly fits him for that."

                                                                                                      —Bert Randolph Sugar, The New York Times Book Review

"If I were the education president every White House inhabitant claims to be, the reforms would begin with putting Douglas Century's  new biography, Barney Ross on the required-reading list."

                                                                                                     —Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune

"Barney Ross was much more than just a boxer, and his story is a microcosm of what Jewish life was like once and of how it has changed."

                                                                                                  —Pauline Dubkin Yearwood, Chicago Jewish News

"It is not often that a modern biography ennobles not only its subject but the genre itself, but this is exactly what Mr. Century has accomplished, crafting a narrative as unsparing and inspiring as its subject."

                                                                                                   —Carl Rollyson, New York Sun

Century recently coauthored two popular military memoirs.  Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in one of the World’s Most Elite Counterterrorism Units, a Los Angeles Times bestselling memoir of former Israeli Special Forces operative Aaron Cohen, was published by Ecco/HarperCollins in April 2008.

Century also coauthored the memoir of of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Jack Jacobs, If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice In America's Time of Need, published by Penguin in October 2009, with a foreword by NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams.

A prolific journalist, Century is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Sunday Styles, Magazine and Arts & Leisure sections. In his New York Times profiles, Century has interviewed such celebrities as jazz-salsa legend Tito Puente, New York Yankee Jason Giambi, rappers and singers LL Cool J, Jay-Z, Prince and Beyoncé.  His 2001 New York Times lead Sunday Styles story, “The Boys of Summer,” was optioned by Miramax Films as a feature film. 

Douglas Century has lectured and spoken at numerous venues across the United States and Canada, including McGill University, Williams College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Temple Emanu-El and the New York Public Library.  In April 2001, he was a featured speaker in the Museum of the City of New York’s Gotham Readers series, Gangs, Gangsters and Gangstas, a sold-out event held at the Public Theater in New York at which he spoke about the history of gangsters in Brooklyn.

Century's work received Permanent of Canada Award for Short Fiction (Second Prize); the Geraldine Griffin Moore Award for the Short Story; the Harold Greenberg Fund for screenplay adaptation of an original book; and, most recently, a New York State Council for the Humanities Grant for Barney Ross.

Represented by the International Creative Management agency, Century is a member of the Writers Guild of America, East and of the Writers Guild of Canada. A resident of Westchester County, New York, Century holds dual United States and Canadian citizenship.