Books
Hometown [Damiani, 2020]
Foreword to a book of Joseph Szabo's photos from the 1970s and early '80s.
Nothing Bad Ever Happens [Small Batch Books, 2017]
Bio of a Long Island businessman and problem-solver named Jim Miller.
Covering the Bases [Chronicle Books, 1997]
Anthology of classic newspaper coverage of baseball's most unforgettable moments. (Editor)
Gluttony [Chronicle Books, 1996]
Anthology about an overabundance of food and drink — and its consequences. (Co-Editor)
Author Central [Amazon]
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Selected articles, interviews, essays, reviews
Fishing With My Daughter [New York Times | PDF]
An essay on fatherhood, memory, and the rewards of "staying open to the rhythms of the natural world."
Where Have All the Covers Gone? [Boston Globe | Ideas]
On the peculiar thrill of seeing a book we love being read by someone we've never met.
Return to Treasure Island [Huffington Post]
How a "boy's adventure novel" written 140 years ago by a tubercular Scot still thrills grown-ups today.
Profile: New York Times Columnist Jim Dwyer [Columbia Journalism Review]
The Pulitzer Prize winner on why, for years, he had the best job in journalism.
The Original Mad Scientist
16th century alchemist Paracelsus was a drunken, foul-mouthed coot — and the unlikely father of modern medicine [Salon]
Signs of the Times
Chatting with a husband-and-wife photography team about their pictures of vibrant, quirky NYC storefronts.
Interview: Tom Zoellner [Red Canary Magazine]
A conversation about Zoellner's excellent collection of essays, The National Road.
Interview: Patrick Radden Keefe [Los Angeles Review of Books]
Keefe on his sweeping, switchblade-sharp Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.
Interview: Steven Johnson [Los Angeles Review of Books]
A conversation about piracy, power, pandemics, and Johnson's latest book, An Enemy of All Mankind.
What Dickens Knew About Trump [Los Angeles Review of Books]
Examining the ways that Fagin and a grifting, populist goon are ethical and psychological twins.
[MORE FROM THE LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS]
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The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS [LIFE.com]
The story behind one of the most harrowing, controversial photographs to emerge from the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
LIFE Rides With Hells Angels [LIFE.com]
In 1965, LIFE's Bill Ray spent weeks with the Angels. His photos never ran in the magazine. Here they are.
A LIFE Photographer Plays With the Polaroid SX-70 [LIFE.com]
Co Rentmeester experimented with the now-legendary camera before it went on sale to the general public.
Alone in a Crowd: Marilyn Sings 'Happy Birthday' to JFK, May 1962 [LIFE.com]
Like any photo that assumes a celebrity of its own, Bill Ray’s portrait is more than just a pretty picture.
The Art of Photographing a Famous Pig [LIFE.com]
The key to the endeavor? The creature's willingness to please.
The LIFE Magazine Covers That Never Were [LIFE.com]
Turns out many of the "classic" LIFE covers featured in a popular 2014 movie were never LIFE covers at all.
The Rooster vs. the Logo [LIFE.com]
A gutsy call by LIFE magazine's founder resulted in a cover worth crowing about.
[MORE FROM LIFE.COM]
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A Tribute to the Sublime Judy Holliday [TIME]
The inimitable actress could do it all, and like all great entertainers, she made it look effortless.
Worst-Ever Movie Taglines [TIME]
'Great Things Come in Bears' and other awful efforts.
Stan Musial: A Salute to the Man [TIME]
Three-time MVP, three-time World Series champ, and maybe the nicest guy who ever played the game.
The Best Movie of All Time at 70: Here's Looking at You, Casablanca [TIME]
What sets Casablanca apart? Its "accidental perfection."
On MBV, My Bloody Valentine's First Album in Two Decades: Attention Must Be Paid [TIME]
[MORE FROM TIME.COM]
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In Praise of Kenneth Patchen
Celebrating a uniquely American poet whose work is a tonic against disgust and despair. [The Awl]
Hemingway's Messy Legacy Keeps Getting Messier [Daily Beast]
A new edition of Green Hills of Africa leaves a reader wondering: What the hell was wrong with Papa?
How Judge Woolsey Set Joyce's Ulysses Free [Daily Beast]
On a momentous, humane First Amendment court opinion that is hugely readable in its own right.
The Late, Great Loren Eiseley Is the Science Writer We Need Right Now [Daily Beast]
Eiseley wrote movingly of the forces that shape the Earth — and of humanity’s impermanence.
George Orwell's Ode to Spring [Daily Beast]
The author of 1984 and Animal Farm wrote about nature as eloquently as he wrote about everything else.
[MORE FROM THE DAILY BEAST]
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The Consolations of Bleak Poetry When Nature Turns Against Us [Medium]
Poems that cast a harsh light on our own mortality can sometimes offer a peculiar sort of comfort.
Like My Dog, Donald Trump Lashes Out at Things He Can't Understand [Medium]
Pippin doesn't understand guitars. Trump doesn't understand courage, sacrifice, service, patriotism ...
[MORE FROM MEDIUM]
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Beast Cements Paul Kingsnorth's Reputation as a Furiously Gifted Writer [Washington Post]
With echoes of Kafka and John Gardner's Grendel, Kingsnorth's novel is as cryptic as it is thrilling.
The Grisly History of Brooklyn's Revolutionary War Martyrs [Smithsonian]
More Americans died in British prison ships than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined.
A Conversation With the Coolest Man in New York: Milton Glaser [Gothamist]
"My whole life has been devoted to this thing called art, which is really all about making things."
[MORE FROM GOTHAMIST]
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Case Foundation — Faces of Founders Project: Bridging the Justice Gap [Branded | FastCo.Works]
Meet two women who created a simple way for lawyers to volunteer their professional services to those in need.
Case Foundation — Faces of Founders Project: Their Moment in the Sun [Branded | FastCo.Works]
George Ashton and Yuri Horwitz founded the solar financing and development venture Sol Systems.
A 3D-Printing Lab Is Iowa's Entry Into a $140 Billion Industry [Branded | FastCo.Works]
Protostudios could be the catalyst for a new medical device hub in the Hawkeye State.
Visions of an Immersive World [Branded | FastCo.Works]
Profiles of six insiders applying mind-blowing tech to upend their respective industries.
Building [Personal essay]
"We were a small crew, just four guys. We framed houses."
Big Wheel Keep on Turning [Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Fall 2015 cover story| PDF]
Can a quirky, ingenious contraption built by an Oberlin alum help save our harbors, rivers, and oceans?
Deadspin: The Stacks
Occasional pieces on sports, culture, and photography for the original, pre-mass-editorial-resignation Deadspin.
LA Weekly
Book reviews for the West Coast's premier alt-weekly.
Salon
More reviews from long ago.