About the Book

Secrets of 24 is a thought-provoking guide to the political, moral, and philosophical issues underlying the hit television series, drawing on fascinating ideas and arguments from leading political figures, cultural commentators, celebrities, and experts in fields ranging from technology to theology.

The show may not be on due to the strike by the Writers Guild of America, but the debates over the themes, issues, and even basic premises of 24 continue. (The most obvious example is the continual allusions to 24 on the presidential campaign trail to terrorism and counter-terrorism, torture and human rights.) Some of the timely and wide range of topics addressed in Secrets of 24 are:

• Why 24 resonates so deeply in our culture—and why we'll miss it in January owing to the writer’s strike.
• How 24's "Ticking Time Bomb" scenario—which Bill Clinton has called “the Jack Bauer moment”--continues to roil the presidential debates.
• Does 24 reflect reality when it comes to the war on terrorism?
• When is torture torture? And why one Supreme Court Justice would never prosecute Jack Bauer
• The future of the show and predictions about Jack Bauer’s fate by 24’s creative team.
• Suitcase nukes, nerve gas, bio-weapons: Terrorism’s future?
• Real-time suspense: How 24 works on the brain. Jihadists, Chinese, Russians, corrupt businessmen: Who are today’s bad guys? What a real-life “CTU” is doing to fight terrorism.
• The Constitution, Privacy, Human Rights vs. “getting the job done.” Jack Bauer vs. James Bond vs. Jack Ryan.
• Technology and 24: what’s real, what’s not.
• Cherry Jones as a female president on 24, the parallels between the fictional David Palmer character and Barack Obama, and how 24 continues to make news in campaign ’08.
• The ticking time clock, old fashioned storytelling, and the short attention span of our age.
• Jack Bauer as Jesus figure.

Secrets of 24 covers these topics through interviews, permissioned commentaries, and original essays. For example:

• Behind-the–scenes interviews with the creative team behind 24, including co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, showrunner Howard Gordon, and actors Mary Lynn Rajskub (“Chloe”), Carlos Bernard (“Tony Almeida”), and James Morrison (“Bill Buchanan“).
• Original interviews with leading thinkers, pundits, and security and terrorism experts, including Frank Rich (New York Times), Seymour Hersh (The New Yorker), Tony Lagouranis (former US Army interrogator in Iraq), Alvin Toffler (futurist), James Woolsey (former Director of the CIA), Tom Clancy (bestselling novelist), and William Sessions (former Director of the FBI).
• Essays and commentaries by such luminaries as Maureen Dowd (New York Times), Jane Mayer (The New Yorker), Michael Chertoff (Secretary of Homeland Defense), Sarah Vowell (This American Life), John Leonard (New York Magazine), Dorothy Rabinowitz (Wall Street Journal), and John Robb (author of "Brave New War").

There is much more, and a complete contributors list plus the table of contents of the book are available on this site. Secrets of 24 is written by the same team who created the “Secrets” series, including the New York Times and worldwide best-selling Secrets of the Code, a guide to Dan Brown’s mega-seller, The Da Vinci Code.

Secrets of 24 will be in stores just in time for the holiday gift season and for the release of Season 6 of 24 on DVD. On that occasion, and as part of their promotional efforts for the DVD, Fox TV will be distributing the book to the media.