Books
Nothing Bad Ever Happens [Small Batch Books, 2017]
A biography of a Long Island entrepreneur, inventor, and problem-solver named Jim Miller.
Covering the Bases [Chronicle Books, 1997]
An anthology of classic newspaper coverage of baseball's most unforgettable moments. (Editor)
Gluttony [Chronicle Books, 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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Articles, Interviews, Essays & Reviews
Where Have All the Covers Gone? [Boston Globe | Ideas | PDF version]
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 version]
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 Version]
An essay on fatherhood, memory, and the rewards of "staying open to the rhythms of the natural world."
Signs of the Times [Brooklyn Mag | PDF Version]
Chatting with a husband-and-wife team about their photos of vibrant, quirky NYC storefronts.
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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 With Style: A Pictorial Guide
Honestly, 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
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 THE 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: 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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Yes, Donald Trump Is a Sexual Predator, and Yes, MAGA Is OK With That [Newsweek]
The GOP's response to its cult leader 's long history of sexual assault? That's cool.
[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]
Celebrating a uniquely American poet whose work is a tonic against disgust and despair.
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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.
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.
[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.
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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, 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 incarnation of Deadspin.
LA Weekly
Book reviews for the West Coast's premier alt-weekly.