BOOKS
Nothing Bad Ever Happens (2017)
A biography of a Long Island entrepreneur, inventor, and problem-solver named Jim Miller.
Covering the Bases (1997)
An anthology of classic newspaper coverage of baseball's most unforgettable moments. (Editor)
Gluttony (1996)
An anthology about an overabundance of food and drink — and its consequences. (Co-Editor)
Foreword to a book of photos by Joseph Szabo. [Read it here.]
Author Central on Amazon
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SELECTED ARTICLES, ESSAYS & REVIEWS
Where Have All the Covers Gone? [Boston Globe | PDF ]
On the peculiar thrill of seeing a book we love being read by someone we've never met.
Profile: New York Times Columnist Jim Dwyer [Columbia Journalism Review | PDF ]
The Pulitzer Prize winner on why, for so many years, he had the best job in journalism.
Fishing With My Child [New York Times | PDF ]
An essay on fatherhood, memory, and the rewards of "staying open to the rhythms of the natural world."
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.
Signs of the Times [Brooklyn Mag | PDF ]
Chatting with a husband-and-wife team about their photos of vibrant, quirky NYC storefronts.
Arbor Day Forever [The Awl | PDF]
Celebrating a holiday that makes us think about the sort of world we want to leave to our grandkids.
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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 Terrible Beauty: Diving Into a 70-Year-Old Photograph of the Sea [LIFE.com]
A picture of the North Atlantic's iron-gray waves under a wintry sun commands our gaze — and chills the blood.
Walking Your Chicken in Paris: A Pictorial Guide [LIFE.com]
The title says it all.
Georgia O'Keeffe: Invincible [LIFE.com]
In John Loengard's amazing portrait, the artist might have been seated "for an hour, or for a thousand years."
How Wild Horses 'Saved' a Shaken LIFE Photographer [LIFE.com]
After witnessing RFK’s murder, Bill Eppridge went on assignment far removed from the madness of the age.
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.
Alfred Hitchcock 'Directs' a LIFE Magazine Story [LIFE.com]
A war thriller (and effective bit of Allied propaganda) in photos, shot by LIFE’s Eliot Elisofon.
The Art of Photographing a Famous Pig [LIFE.com]
The key to the endeavor? Exploiting 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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Interview: Patrick Radden Keefe [Los Angeles Review of Books]
A conversation with Keefe on his sweeping, switchblade-sharp book, Say Nothing.
Interview: Steven Johnson [Los Angeles Review of Books]
A conversation about piracy, power, pandemics, and Johnson's latest, An Enemy of All Mankind.
What Dickens Knew About Donald J. Trump [Los Angeles Review of Books]
Examining the ways that Fagin and a grifting, populist goon are ethical and psychological twins.
[More from LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS]
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Review: This Is How a Robin Drinks [Red Canary Magazine]
Joanna Brichetto's charming urban wilderness is worth a visit.
Review: Green Crime [Red Canary Magazine]
"Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them"
Conversation: Jerry Stahl [Red Canary Magazine]
The author of Nein, Nein, Nein! discusses his existential romp with the Holocaust-tourism industry.
Review: Becoming Earth [Red Canary Magazine]
A deep dive into science writer Ferris Jabr's audacious, uplifting debut.
[More from RED CANARY]
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George Orwell's Ode to Spring [Daily Beast | PDF]
The author of 1984 and Animal Farm wrote about nature as eloquently as he wrote about everything else.
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 court opinion that is highly 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.
[More from DAILY BEAST]
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Yes, Donald Trump Is a Sexual Predator, and Yes, MAGA Is Fine With That [Newsweek]
The GOP's response to its cult leader's long history of sexual assault? Whatevs.
[More from NEWSWEEK]
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A Tribute to Judy Holliday [TIME]
The sublime comic 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 [TIME]
Attention must be paid.
[More from TIME.COM]
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All Hail the Pigeon
Rock doves are a whole lot faster, kinder, and smarter than we give them credit for. [Salon]
The Original Mad Scientist
A 16th-century alchemist was a drunken, foul-mouthed coot — and the unlikely father of modern medicine [Salon]
[More from SALON]
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Return to Treasure Island [Huffington Post]
How a "boy's adventure novel" written 150 years ago by a tubercular Scot still thrills grown-ups today.
In Praise of Kenneth Patchen [The Awl | PDF]
Celebrating a uniquely American poet whose work is a tonic against disgust and despair.
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.
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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. 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 incarnation of Deadspin.
LA Weekly
Book reviews for the West Coast's premier alt-weekly.