Michael J. Ybarra

Michael J. Ybarra graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in political science, and an M.A in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a former staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. Ybarra wrote about politics and culture for various national publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic.

"Washington Gone Crazy" was a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and it was shortlisted for the Ambassador Book Award in American Studies. The New York Times Book Review included the biography among the 100 Notable Books of the Year. It won the D.B. Hardeman Prize for the best book on Congress from the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation in 2004.