The Authors

Dr. Rachel A. Winston, Ph.D.

As a retired university professor, Full-Time Faculty Member of the Year, elected statewide leader, and winner of the McFarland Literary Achievement Award, Dr. Winston writes and publishes on key educational, societal, and international issues. She taught at UCLA, Chapman University, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Cal State Fullerton and holds graduate degrees from Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the University of Texas at Austin, George Washington University, Claremont Graduate University, Pepperdine University, and Cal State Fullerton.

Inspired by trips with U.N. officials in the 1960s to the Golan Heights, Crimea, Caucuses, and Ukraine during the Cold War, and East Germany when still behind the Iron Curtain, Dr. Winston later worked on Capitol Hill and at the White House. As a mathematician, chemist, and computer scientist, her life led her to more than fifty countries. Attending graduate school in Hong Kong, presenting at speaking events in China, and conducting research in Southeast Asia, Dr. Winston’s research for her theses for Harvard University and the University of Chicago offered numerous insights as she built relationships with people throughout Asia.

Dr. Winston turned her research into the book Raging Waters in the South China Sea and continued to write China’s Power Grab and Expanding Claims, followed by Belts and Roads Under Beijing’s Thumb. Her graduate work in World War II Studies and visits to ten concentration camps in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic led her to research genocide and write the books in the Awakened Now series: Awakened to Tomorrow’s Future, Nazi Germany to Xinjiang Province, and Persecution of Uyghur Muslims.

Ishika Sachdeva

Ishika Sachdeva is a championship debater and public speaker who has channeled her passion for international issues to sharing insights with others in platforms such as Google Classroom. She has traveled around the world to seek out wisdom from scholars and laypeople. As a prospective student of political economy and international relations at the University of California, Berkeley, Ishika has committed her globally-connected journey to investigate topics, explore human rights, and educate in every capacity possible.

Ishika co-wrote the first two books in the series with Dr. Winston.