James Simon Kunen (born 1948) is an American author, journalist and lawyer. He is best known as the author of The Strawberry Statement, a first-person documentary of the Columbia University protests of 1968.
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James Simon Kunen was an alumnus of Phillips Academy. He attended Columbia University during the 1968 student protests and participated in the student sit-in at the institution's Hamilton Hall, resulting in his arrest for trespassing. This experience led him to write The Strawberry Statement, documenting the university's controversial involvement with the government's Institute for Defense Analyses.[1]
After graduating from Columbia, he became a field journalist from Vietnam for TRUE magazine. This experience led to his second published work, Standard Operating Procedure.[1]
Afterward, he graduated from the New York University School of Law and moved to Washington, D.C., where he became a public defender. His experiences in criminal courts led to his writing "How Can You Defend Those People?", which was published by Random House in 1983.[1]
Kunen has also written articles for The New Yorker, People, Newsday, and New York Times Magazine, among other notable publications.[1]
Kunen is married to Lisa Karlin, a radio journalist. They reside in Brooklyn, New York and have two children.[1]