[not verified in body] As she describes in her own autobiographical writings, Riess was born in the Midwestern United States, and has an older brother, John.
[citation needed] Riess has described her father, who died at age 71 in Mobile, Alabama, in October 2010,[1]: 166–9 as "an angry atheist" and her mother as "considerably more charitable but no more interested in organized religion.
[citation needed] Riess' 2019 The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church, received critical praise;[5][verification needed][6] Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California,[7] describes the work as "[s]ociologically sound, extremely well-researched and well-written".
[9] In July 2001 Riess moderated a debate between Richard Abanes and Connie Neal at a convention of Christian retailers over the "real religious concern" over the Harry Potter books with regard to their presentation of witchcraft and aspects of the occult.
[3] Riess, Jana (2002), The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England: A Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places, Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, ISBN 978-1-58768-008-3