Louise Dunlap is a sixth-generation Californian. She has taught writing to undergraduates and grad students in urban and environmental planning, worked with writers in advocacy groups, wrote Undoing the Silence, and began journeys into the hidden history of white supremacy that led to this book. She honors the spiritual teachings of many traditions and, in 2004, was ordained by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh into the Order of Interbeing, with the name True Silent Teaching.