Adam Valen Levin­son is a jour­nal­ist and trav­el writer whose work focus­es on human sto­ries in con­flict areas. He is an affil­i­ate of the Mid­dle East Insti­tute in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., and a fel­low at the Cen­ter for Cul­tur­al Soci­ol­o­gy at Yale Uni­ver­si­ty, study­ing humor as a key to cul­tur­al understanding.