David Dante Troutt's first published collection of short stories, The Monkey Suit, fictionalized ten actual legal controversies involving African Americans from slavery to the present. His nonfiction includes legal and political commentary and analysis for national periodicals and legal scholarship about poverty, race, urban development, and intellectual property. Troutt recently edited an anthology of essays, After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina. He is a professor of law and Justice John J. Francis Scholar at Rutgers University Law School (Newark). Originally a native of Harlem, Troutt now lives with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn. The Importance of Being Dangerous is his first published novel.