Michael Novak is a Slovak-American Catholic thinker and writer, born 9 September 1933, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and educated at Stonehill College, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and Harvard University. He published a novel, The Tiber Was Silver in 1961, reported on the second session of the Second Vatican Council for the National Catholic Reporter, taught at Stanford University 1965-1968, served as dean at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, Long Island, 1969-1972, started the Rockefeller Foundation's humanities program, 1973-1974, and taught at Syracuse University, 1976-1978. In 1978 he became a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Social Policy Research. In 1982 he published his most famous book, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. Author of many books and articles, he has argued that Capitalism is not at odds with Christianity, and that it is the best economic system for the promotion of democracy, freedom, and social well-being.