Paul Lewis is a Professor of English at Boston College and the president of the Poe Studies Association. The author of two books (Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict and Comic Effects: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Humor in Literature), he has written articles on American humor, gallows humor, humor and terrorism, and Jewish humor. As a freelance writer, he has published opinion, humor, and feature pieces in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, Atlanta Constitution, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, National Post (Canada), and Haaretz (Israel).