Brian Gruber

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Brian Gruber has spent 40 years studying, leading, and developing new media companies and creative projects. He was hired by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb to be the pioneering cable network’s first head of marketing, where he hosted two live national call-in shows each week with politically prominent guests such as John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, and Cesar Chavez. After years as a cable TV marketing turnaround specialist in urban markets, he was hired as the first head of marketing for Australia’s national cable television company FOXTEL. While consulting for the San Francisco-based World Affairs Council, Brian founded FORA.tv, a global thought leader network presenting the world’s leading public forums; it was named by Time magazine as one of the fifty best sites on the web. While there he interviewed numerous public intellectuals, writers, and policy experts from Christopher Hitchens and Norman Mailer to Malcolm Gladwell and Jim Lehrer. He also founded ShowGo.tv, which streamed hundreds of live concerts from iconic jazz clubs in Brazil, the UK, Italy, and the United States. Brian has authored five books. "Dauphin, Dorian and Dead: The Year Without a Net" is a tragicomic romp through four continents that explores the ascent, descent, and aftermath of romance at midlife. "WAR: The Afterparty" is a global “walkabout” to the scenes of a half century of U.S. military interventions. In additional to interviews on Fox News, C-SPAN, and public radio, the book was widely praised in reviews for the book’s vision and editorial style. Stephen Kinzer, former New York Times bureau chief and one of America’s leading foreign policy authors, commented, “Joining the army, according to an old proverb, gives you the chance to ‘travel the world, meet interesting people, and kill them.’ In this book, Brian Gruber travels the world, meets extremely interesting people, and instead of killing them, tries to understand them. His book cuts through layers of propaganda and helps us see the world’s problems – and ourselves – through the eyes of others.” "Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation" garnered rave reviews across the jazz community. Carlo Wolff of Downbeat called it, “... an unusual and welcome addition to the jazz bibliography.” Geoff Nicholls of Rhythm magazine adds, “Well-written and thought- provoking... a challenging document of a half-century of cutting- edge musical exploration.” "Surmountable: How Citizens from Selma to Seoul Changed the World" chronicles the victories and setbacks of ten American and three international civic movements from the past century. Co-written with Adam Monier Edwards, Gruber traveled across the United States and four continents to gather stories from activists, journalists, and witnesses from sites of groundbreaking protests. What was the original vision for citizen engagement of Enlightenment thinkers that inspired U.S. liberal democracy and how do we move mountains to create the kind of world we want? "Full Moon over Koh Phangan: What Adventurers, Dancers, and Freaks Seek and Find on Thailand’s Magic Island" is an oral history of the legendary island's characters, communities, and magnetic appeal, with stories gathered from 25 diverse perspectives. Gruber lives on Phangan, where he leads a weekly Write Night and coaches first-time authors seeking to take creative projects to completion. The view from his hillside home of the surrounding jungle, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Ang Thong archipelago is happily free of any signs of human civilization. He is father of two daughters, Andrea and Jennifer, and two grandchildren, Silas and Cecelia.