She has a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA, with a background in archaeology, cultural neuroscience, ancient religion, colonialism, and human rights. She conducted her field work primarily in Central America where she lived in a tent in the jungles of Belize for nine years while searching for lost Maya ruins, but she’s also conducted field work in various locations around the world, including Africa and Western Europe

She was born just outside of Washington DC where she grew up among senators and supreme court justices. Before graduate school, she briefly attended Georgetown Law School and worked as a murder investigator for the Washington DC Public Defenders Service where she gained an insiders view of the criminal justice system. Her latest release is setting Amazon on fire. Ellison Cooper is my guest today.