Martha Bayles writes about the arts, cultural policy, and media. A former columnist for the American Interest, she is a Contributing Editor to the American Purpose and film and TV critic for the Claremont Review of Books. She is the author of two books: Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music (Chicago University Press 1996) and Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad (Yale University Press 2014). A fellow at the Hudson Institute and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, she is currently at work on a monograph on the threats to independent journalism around the world; a book about free speech in the digital age; and a memoir about race entitled Off White. Since 2003 she has taught humanities at Boston College.