The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats

An honors graduate of the Brooklyn streets, where he grew up across from the former headquarters of Murder Inc., Hesh Kestin reported on war, crime and terrorism in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. His work has appeared in publications as diverse as Forbes, Newsday, the Jerusalem Post and Playboy. After hanging up his trenchcoat Kestin founded two prize-winning newspapers, the independent Israeli daily The Nation, and The American, a weekly for expatriates. He is also the author of a collection of novellas, Based On A True Story. "You never stop being afraid," Kestin says of a former life in which he was often the only unarmed man in the room. "But having grown up in a part of New York where every day was a war, I had a unique advantage: I was used to it."