乔纳森·哈尔(Jonathan Harr)出生于美国威斯康星州贝洛伊特市，现居马萨诸塞州的北安普顿。他曾任《新英格兰月刊》（New England Monthly）的特约撰稿人，现为《纽约时报杂志》（The New York Times Magazine）和《纽约客》撰稿，同时在史密斯学院教授非虚构类作品的写作。他曾多次获得文学类和报道类奖项，包括美国调查记者编辑协会奖。

哈尔历时8年调查写出的作品《漫长的诉讼》（A Civil Action）在1995年出版后被提名美国国家图书奖，并最终获得了美国国家书评人协会奖（非虚构类）和美国律师协会最高奖银锤奖，该书还被哈佛大学、耶鲁大学等五十多所知名大学的法学院列为必读图书。该书改编的同名电影由约翰·屈伏塔和罗伯特·杜瓦尔主演，于1998年上映并获得了两项奥斯卡奖提名。2005年，哈尔撰写了畅销书《消失的画》（The Lost Painting）。

Every element of great drama--tragic deaths, titanic greed, a flawed hero--already existed in Jonathan Harr s A Civil Action. John Shea s reading provides the finishing touch: a great voice. Shea, an Obie Award-winning stage actor, is probably best known for his roles in a handful of films in the 80s, including Missing and Windy City. His smooth, disciplined reading guides us through some of the book s heavy traffic--lots of medical information, many characters with complex backgrounds, multiple carcinogenic chemicals--without for a second allowing us to get lost in those details. We never forget we re heading toward one of modern journalism s great clashes of good and evil, and even if we know in advance which side wins, the narrative path to that conclusion is always riveting. (Running time: 4 hours, 4 cassettes)