Walter Isaacson was born on May 20 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from New Orleans Isidore Newman School and a summer at Deep Springs College as a participant in the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP), Isaacson attended Harvard College and earned a B. A. in history and literature. While at Harvard, Isaacson was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He then attended the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Pembroke College and read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Walter Isaacson began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazines fourteenth editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003. He is the author of American Sketches , Einstein: His Life and Universe , Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Kissinger: A Biography , and he is the co-author, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. On October 24, 2011, Isaacsons authorized biography of Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs was published by Simon & Schuster. Because of Jobs death just weeks earlier (on October 5, 2011), Steve Jobs became an instant international best-seller, breaking all records for sales of a biography. The book was based on over 40 interviews with Jobs over two years right up until shortly before his death. Isaacson also drew on conversations with friends, family members, and even business rivals of the entrepreneur whose vision revolutionized computing, music, phones, animated films, and even publishing. This title Steve Jobs made Publishers Weekly Best Seller List for 2011.