Congressman Steve Scalise was elected to Congress in May of 2008 after serving in the Louisiana State Legislature from 1996-2008. He currently serves his colleagues as the House Majority Whip, the third highest position for House Republicans. A native of Jefferson Parish, Scalise is a graduate of Archbishop Rummel High School and Louisiana State University, where he earned a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Political Science. Scalise is married to the former Jennifer Letulle, and they have two children, Madison and Harrison. He lives in Louisiana.

Jeffrey E. Stern is the author of The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at War, and co-author of The 15:17 to Paris. A journalist and war correspondent, his reporting has appeared in Vanity Fair magazine, the Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere.