Benjamin Shapiro was born in 1984 in Burbank, Calif. Brought up in the home of two Reagan Republicans, where intelligent conversation about politics and philosophy was encouraged, Shapiro quickly developed into a reasoned political thinker and a powerful writer.

He entered UCLA at the age of 16. Never afraid to antagonize his political opposition, he was the only counter-protester at an Affirmative Action Rally that drew over 1,500 people on UCLA's campus, and he has repeatedly challenged liberal professors and faculty.

As a staunch conservative on the modern politically correct campus, Shapiro faces the political liberals head-on. From exposing the leftist tilt of the professoriate on college campuses to addressing the conflict in the Middle East, Shapiro's confrontational approach always draws a hailstorm of response.

Shapiro was hired at age 17 to become the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S. His columns are printed nationwide in major newspapers and websites, including Townhall.com, WorldNetDaily.com, Frontpagemag.com, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Jewish World Review, and he has been quoted on the O'Reilly Factor, in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Press, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others.

Shapiro is a regular guest on dozens of radio shows around the United States and Canada. He is also the author of the national bestseller, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (May 2004, Thomas Nelson Inc./WND Books).

An Orthodox Jew, virtuosic violinist, and hack golfer, Shapiro graduated UCLA in June 2004 with a B.A. in Political Science. He is currently a student at Harvard Law School.