Teri Kanefield is an American attorney, award-winning author,[1][2] and social media commentator on legal matters of public interest. A graduate of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, she specialized for twelve years in representing indigent clients on appeal from adverse rulings (a focus she often brings to her legal commentary).[3] She passed the California bar in 2003.[4] Her legal analyses have appeared in The Washington Post,[5] NBC News,[6] CNN,[7] and other major media outlets.[8]
Kanefield has written fiction and nonfiction children's books.[2] The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement (2014)[9] won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award[10] and Orbis Pictus Award[11] in 2015. Other awards include the Sydney Taylor Book Award (Notable) for Rivka's Way[12] in 2001[13] and the Grateful American Foundation (Honorable Mention)[14] for Andrew Jackson[15] which is part of her six book series The Making of America.[16] Kanefield's most recent book is A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation (2024),[17] named after the firehose of falsehood propaganda technique autocratic politicians use overwhelm and confuse their citizens and thus gain and retain power. The book reviews the history and tactics of this method of spreading disinformation.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri,[18] as of 2023[update] she resides in San Luis Obispo, California.[19]