Journalist. Author.
Non-Fiction Storyteller.
As seen and heard in
Latest Projects
Bittersweet Empire
Billionaire Sugar Barons and the Ghosts of Slavery
Bestselling author and award-winning investigative journalist Sandy Tolan exposes the bitter history behind the secretive sugar industry and the Fanjuls, the billionaire family who owns Domino Sugar and Florida Crystals. Coming January 2027.
Books
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Bittersweet Empire
“Utterly riveting and profoundly disturbing. Journalism at its finest.” —Junot Díaz
An exposé of the bitter history behind America’s sugar industry and the family that has profited most from it. Coming January 2027.
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The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (Young Readers’ Edition)
An exploration of the lives of a Palestinian and an Israeli who lived in the same house, before and after 1948 (November 2020, Bloomsbury).
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Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land
About one Palestinian’s dream to build a music school in the midst of Israel’s military occupation (2015, Bloomsbury).
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The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
An exploration of the lives of a Palestinian and an Israeli who lived in the same house, before and after 1948 (May 2006, Bloomsbury).
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Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later
A memoir, social history and portrait of American race relations, told through the experience of baseball home run king Hank Aaron (June 2000, The Free Press).
About Sandy Tolan
Sandy Tolan is a journalist, best selling author and professor at USC Annenberg and directs the school's graduate program on Specialized Journalism. He is co-founder of Homelands Productions, an independent production company, with multiple public radio collaborations over the last 35 years.
He has reported from more than 40 countries over the last four decades, written for dozens of nonfiction publications, and produced hundreds of documentaries, features and podcasts for NPR and other outlets.
His work has been recognized with more than two dozen national and international awards, including a duPont -Columbia Silver Baton, a George Polk award, a United Nations Gold Medal award, and three Robert F. Kennedy awards for reporting on the disadvantaged.
Articles
–Rolling Stone
–The Guardian
–Los Angeles Times
Interviews & Events
–WGVU Public Media with Shelly Irwin
–Blog Talk Radio with Cyrus Webb
–Performance Today with Fred Child
Audio documentaries and podcasts:
Homelands Productions
Homelands Productions is an independent, nonprofit journalism cooperative. Their mission is to illuminate complex issues through compelling broadcasts, podcasts, films, articles, books, and educational forums, and to foster freedom of expression and creative risk through the media arts.
Reports and analysis on Palestine/Israel
Dispatches from Standing Rock
