In 1985, as a Yale University undergraduate and avowed progressive, Ledbetter decided to impersonate a right-wing, Reaganite student zealot.
Ledbetter then (as an undergraduate) published a scathing exposé of Accuracy in Academia, "Campus Double Agent," in the December 30, 1985, issue of The New Republic.
[1] Ledbetter then worked as an editor-in-chief at online media start-up The Big Money, which served as Slate’s effort at a stand-alone business site.
[1] Over the decades, Ledbetter's writing also has appeared in several other US publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, Vibe, Newsday, and The American Prospect.
"[3] Ledbetter's previous works include Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex, published in 2011 by Yale University Press, Dispatches for the New York Tribune: Selected Journalism of Karl Marx, published in the UK in 2007 and the U.S. in 2008 by Penguin Classics, Starving to Death on $200 Million: The Short, Absurd Life of The Industry Standard, and Made Possible By...: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States.