Douglas Century
Author : Journalist
Dourlas century''s books have ranged in subject matter from Jewish-American culture, hip-hop, 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) was described by Publishers Weekly 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.” 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.
street kingdom::- Five Years inside the franklin avenue posse
Century's 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 biography received widespread critical acclaim.
“This is an excellent story of a man and his times," wrote Bert Randolph Sugar in The New York Times Book Review. "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 fi ts him for that.”
In 2011, Century was the coauthor, with iconic hip-hop artist and actor Ice-T, of Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood, published by Random House/One World. The Associated Press called the book, “as cool as its namesake. . . a fascinating memoir, the pages of which are jam-packed with tales of a guy who ‘actively did everything I rhymed about.’" The New York Times Book Review saw the book as the embodiment of "hip-hop's Horatio Alger" myth: “Ice-T in short, is someone hip-hop might have invented if he hadn’t invented himself," reviewer Baz Dreisinger wrote. "A goes-down-easy mélange of memoir, self-help, and amateur criminology. Ultimately, Ice showcases an eminently reasonable, positively likeable guy, the gangsta rapper even a parent could love.”
from south central to hollywood
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 Cowan’s 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 recently coauthred 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 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.
Century has 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. 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 International Creative Management, Century is a member of the Writers Guild of America, East and of the Writers Guild of Canada.
