Today is the birthday of American television anchor and political commentator RACHEL MADDOW. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio. She was also a guest host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Race for the White House.

Maddow now hosts a preeminent nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC and she was the first out Gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news program in the United States.  Rachel (don’t you feel like you can call her by her first name even if you haven’t actually ever been introduced?) earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. At graduation she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship.

She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University. Her doctoral thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons. She was the first openly Gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.

Maddow wrote Drift, which examines attitudes toward and policies about war. It was hailed by every critic as a concise and well thought out treatise of the subject. Her analysis is on point at every turn. 

In these troubled days she is must-watch television (even if she is annoyingly repetitive and pedantic from time to time…Rachel…hire a good editor!…we love you!)

Maddow wrote Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power (2012) about the role of the military in postwar American politics. Upon its release, Drift reached the first position of The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction. 

Of particular interest to this writer, in March 2018, The New York Times published Maddow’s first crossword puzzle, in collaboration with Joe DiPietro. On the eve of its publication, she said: “This is kind of it, like there will never be a baby, but there’s this freaking crossword puzzle, and I am very, very excited about it.”

Maddow’s second book Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth was published in October 2019. In March 2021, the audiobook version of Blowout, recorded by Maddow, won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Her third book, Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House, written with Michael Yarvitz, was published in December 2020.

Maddow’s fourth book, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism was published in October 2023. It is based on her podcast Ultra. Her most recent book, Prequel, should be required reading for every voting American.

With the disastrous reelection of Donald Trump, Maddow, who had reduced her on air presence to Mondays was asked to, and agreed to return to the air five nights a week. She indicates this will be “for the first 100 days of the new administration.” Stay tuned. 

Literally.