Malkin, Michelle 1970-

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MALKIN, Michelle 1970-

PERSONAL: Born October 20, 1970, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of naturalized Filipino immigrants; married, husband's name, Jesse (a journalist); children: Veronica. Education: Oberlin College, B.A. Hobbies and other interests: Pier fishing, crocheting.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Creators Syndicate, 5777 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles, CA, editorial writer and columnist, 1992-94; Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, editorial writer, 1996-99; Creators Syndicate, Los Angeles, CA, syndicated columnist, 1999—. Contributor and commentator to the Fox News Channel.

AWARDS, HONORS: National award, Council on Governmental Ethics, 1998, for "outstanding service for the cause of governmental ethics and leadership"; James Madison Award, Second Amendment Foundation, 1998, for excellence in journalism.

WRITINGS:

Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists,Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores, Regnery Publications (Washington, DC), 2002.

In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror, Regnery Publications (Washington, DC), 2004.

Contributor to National Review Online and to periodicals, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miami Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Detroit News, Washington Times, Rocky Mountain News, Philadelphia Daily News, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, New York Post, and Jewish World Review.

SIDELIGHTS: Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and editorial writer whose work appears in more than two hundred newspapers nationwide. The daughter of naturalized Filipino immigrants, she grew up in a staunchly conservative household and strengthened her conservative views by reading Ayn Rand as a college student. While still in college, she began writing for a conservative monthly magazine cofounded by her husband, and after working for two major daily newspapers she became syndicated in 1999. She has made frequent appearances on the Fox News Channel and as an invited speaker at universities and political gatherings.

Malkin's books address issues that have arisen in the wake of the twenty-first-century war on terror, particularly the conflict between personal civil liberties and racial or ethnic profiling. Her first work, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores, illustrates the many ways in which illegal immigrants can arrive in America and stay, in some cases perpetrating criminal or terrorist acts. As Susanna Dokupil put it in the American Enterprise, Malkin "contends that America's porous immigration system allows terrorists into the country." Dokupil added that the book "offers an emotional appeal on an important topic." According to National Review correspondent Mark Krikorian, Invasion "is a valuable contribution to popular understanding of how our immigration system actually works, and [Malkin's] policy prescriptions are generally sound. . . . I highly recommend Invasion to anyone interested in why our homeland is so vulnerable to our enemies." Dennis Bixler-Marquez praised the book in the International Migration Review for its "powerful message," adding that the work "will no doubt resonate in many sectors of American society. The compelling evidence in the book points to an inefficient national security system that fortunately is now being overhauled and on its way to address the gaps outlined by Malkin."

In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror takes a controversial stance on the internment of Japanese citizens and naturalized Japanese Americans during World War II. The author maintains that the forced relocation of thousands of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor was not merely a matter of racial prejudice or hysteria, but was indeed inspired by intelligence that proved that a network of Japanese spies and subversives did exist on the West Coast of the United States. Malkin explains that it was the knowledge of this intelligence that spurred Franklin D. Roosevelt to order the mass evacuations. In an interview with Jamie Glazov for FrontPage Magazine Online, Malkin said she was inspired to investigate Japanese internment by complaints engendered by the counter-terror measures President George W. Bush instituted in the aftermath of the bombing of the World Trade Centers. "The constant alarmism from Bush-bashers who argue that every counter-terror measure in America is tantamount to the internment was the final straw," the author noted. "The result is a book that I hope changes the way readers view both America's past and its present."

Unsurprisingly, In Defense of Internment drew widely varying responses from critics. In Reason, Eric L. Muller described the book as "not a trustworthy work of history but a polemic—The O'Reilly Factor masquerading as the History Channel." Muller added that Malkin's body of evidence "simply does not support the enormous weight of the argument she builds on it." Conversely, American Enterprise reviewer Karina Rollins credited Malkin with presenting a "complete history," and Rollins further commented that In Defense of Internment "provides first-time insight into the towering scale and immediacy of the threat posed by the Japanese." As John Leo concluded in a U.S. News and World Report review of the work: "It is always reasonable to look in the direction from which the gravest danger is coming. It's also reasonable and important to open an honest discussion of internment, past and present."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Enterprise, July-August, 2003, Susanna Dokupil, "Immigration Muckraker," p. 55; October-November, 2004, Karina Rollins, "Absolute Threat," p. 54.

Insight on the News, April 29, 2003, Stephen Goode, "Malkin Sounds off on 'Invasion' of U.S.," p. 42.

International Migration Review, fall, 2003, Dennis Bixler-Marquez, review of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores, p. 901.

National Review, December 9, 2002, Mark Krikorian, "Welcoming the Enemy," p. 48.

Reason, December, 2004, Eric L. Muller, "Indefensible Internment: There Was No Good Reason for the Mass Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II," p. 59.

U.S. News and World Report, September 27, 2004, John Leo, "The Internment Taboo," p. 74.