Douglas Century

Douglas Century (born in 1964) is a Canadian-born entertainment journalist and biographer. He is author of the biography of Boris Neyfeld, the biography of Dov-Ber Rasofsky and coauthor of the biography of Ice T.

Personal life and Education

Douglas Century was born on May 5, 1964, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The son of Jewish-American expat parents, Century marked his coming of age during the 1980s, when he grew up in the area of Chinook Park—an upscale residential neighborhood set within the southwest quadrant of the City of Calgary. Century attended Henry Wise Wood High School, where he allegedly faced a punishment of near-expulsion reported to be over a composition of said controversy described by a journalist for the Calgary Herald as "a satirical piece comparing what he saw as the school’s crackdown on fairly minor infractions to Nazi Germany." Century went on to major in English at Princeton University. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986.

Career

Douglas Century began making a name for himself in the 1990's as a documentarian of the streets of New York CIty. This, as part of the then-budding journalist's quest to dive in and cover hip-hop culture. In that niche, he served as a columnist and contributor to mainstream media outlets including The New York Times and The Guardian.

The real life subject matter Century has worked to chronicle accounts for true story surrounding some of the most impactful individuals of the 20th Century -- including, Colonel Jack Jacobs, Captain Sully, Barney Ross, Ananda Lewis, Ice T, El Chapo and Boris Neyfeld.

Bibliography

Books

• Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse (New York: Warner Books, 1999), a portrait of hip-hop and gangster subculture set in Brooklyn.
• Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2002), an investigative account of Operation Wasteland co-authored with NYPD Detective Rick Cowan.
• Barney Ross (New York: Nextbook/Schocken: 2006), a biography of the legendary Jewish boxing champion Barney Ross and Silver Star-awarded U.S. Marine Corps hero of the Battle of Guadalcanal.
• Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in one of the World’s Most Elite Counterterrorism Units, by Aaron Cohen and Douglas Century (New York: Ecco, 2008).
• If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice In America's Time of Need, by Colonel Jack Jacobs (Ret.) and Douglas Century (New York: Berkley Caliber, 2008), a memoir of the famed Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and NBC military analyst. Winner of the 2010 Colby Award.
• Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood, by Ice-T and Douglas Century (New York: Random House, 2011). Template:ISBN.
• The Dark Art: My Undercover Life in Global Narcoterrorism (New York: Gotham Books, 2014), coauthored with retired DEA Special Agent Edward Follis.
• Hunting El Chapo: The Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most-Wanted Drug Lord, (New York: HarperCollins, 2018) a detailed nonfiction account of the eight-year investigation and manhunt for Mexican narcotrafficker Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera a.k.a. "El Chapo" – leader of the Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa); coauthored with former DEA Special Agent Andrew Hogan.
• No Surrender: A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today, (New York: Harper One, 2019) coauthored with Pastor Chris Edmonds. Winner of a 2020 Christopher Award.
• The Last Boss of Brighton: Boris "Biba" Nayfeld and the Rise of the Russian Mob in America, (New York: William Morrow, 2022).
• Split Decision: Life Stories (New York: Gallery Books, 2022) by Ice-T & Spike and Douglas Century.

Essays and reporting

• "Boxing" by Douglas Century, in Jews and American Popular Culture, Vol. III, by Paul Buhle (ed.), (Greenwood Publishing: 2006)
• "My Brooklyn: Still a Contender on the Waterfront," by Douglas Century, The New York Times Arts & Leisure Section, March 12, 1999 [1]
• "Not So Fly for This White Guy," by Douglas Century, The New York Times Sunday Styles, January 31, 1999 [2]
• "Alpine, NJ: Home to Hip-Hop Royalty," by Douglas Century, The New York Times Arts & Leisure Section, February 11, 2007 [3]
• "The Blatnoy," by Douglas Century, Tablet Magazine, August 29, 2022
• "Opinion: Vladimir Putin is the Most Brazen, Powerful and Wealthy Mobster of All Time," by Douglas Century, Globe and Mail, July 23, 2022

Critical studies and reviews

• "Punching Through" Barney Ross reviewed in The New York Times Book Review by Bert Randolph Sugar, February 19, 2006.
• "Two-Fisted Hero" Barney Ross reviewed in The Washington Post by Jonathan Yardley, January 17, 2006.
• "A Jew in the Modern World" Barney Ross reviewed in The New York Sun by Carl Rollyson, February 8, 2006.
• "Ice-T, Living Out Loud," Ice reviewed in The New York Times Book Review by Baz Dreisinger, April 22, 2011.
• Review of The dark art.

External links

• Author Website