Month: November 2015

I just released a new episode of the Sad Men Podcast. This edition explores LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN, a Depression-era book by the great James Agee. Giller Prize-winning author Johanna Skibsrud joins us for the podcast, explaining how Agee’s work influenced her novel, QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME. I created this podcast, telling the stories […]

I just published “Belabored Empires” in The Awl, an essay about how a ragtag group of journalists built the newspaper unions that still stand today. Here’s an excerpt: “In the darkest days of the Great Depression, Heywood Broun, a sportswriter more famous for his gambling exploits during the Roaring Twenties and for sneaking shots of gin […]

I’ve started a new podcast project, telling the stories of how a generation of men and women writers survived the Great Depression. You can find the Sad Men Podcast for free at iTunes and at SoundCloud. My first episode ponders the bloody legacy of the great horror radio writer, Arch Oboler. It is a companion piece to my […]