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Erik Larson (author)

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Name
  
Erik Larson

Role
  
Journalist

Movies
  
In the Garden of Beasts


Erik Larson (author) dgrassetscomauthors1304371037p55869jpg

Education
  
University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University

Awards
  
Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, Goodreads Choice Awards Best History & Biography

Nominations
  
National Book Award for Nonfiction, CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

Books
  
The Devil in the White Cit, Dead Wake: The Last Cros, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, Isaac's Storm: A Man - a Ti

Similar People
  
H H Holmes, Daniel Burnham, Garth Stein, Erik Larsen, Isaac Cline

Profiles

Author erik larson serious jibber jabber with conan o brien conan on tbs


Erik Larson (born January 3, 1954) is an American journalist and author of nonfiction books. He has written a number of bestsellers, such as The Devil in the White City (2003), about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a series of murders by H. H. Holmes that were committed in the city around the time of the Fair; The Devil in the White City also won the 2004 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, among other awards.

Contents

Erik Larson (author) httpspbstwimgcomprofileimages2239547537er

Q a author erik larson


Early life

Larson was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He studied Russian history at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. After a year off, he attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, graduating in 1978. He was inspired to go into journalism after seeing the movie All the President's Men.

Journalism

Larson's first newspaper job was with the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown, Pennsylvania, where he wrote about murder, witches, environmental poisons, and other "equally pleasant" things. He later became a features writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and other publications.

Books

Larson has written a number of books, mostly historical nonfiction. In a 2016 interview with the Knoxville Mercury, Larson stated he does all of his own research, asking, "why should I let anybody else have that fun?" He also rejected the idea of trying to imagine or take factual liberties with scenes and conversations from the past, stating that in his work, "anything that appears in quote is something that came from a historical document." He included among his literary inspirations David McCullough, Barbara Tuchman, David Halberstam, and Walter Lord.

  • Larson, Erik (1992). The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (1st ed.). H. Holt. ISBN 0805017550. 
  • Larson, Erik (1994). Lethal Passage: How the Travels of a Single Handgun Expose the Roots of America's Gun Crisis (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0517596776. 
  • Larson, Erik (1999). Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (1st ed.). Random House Publishing. ISBN 0-609-60233-0. 
  • Concerns the experiences of Isaac Cline during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
  • Larson, Erik (2002). The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-609-60844-4. 
  • Concerns the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a series of murders committed by H. H. Holmes around that time
  • Larson, Erik (2006). Thunderstruck (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 9781400080663. 
  • Intersperses the story of Hawley Harvey Crippen with that of Guglielmo Marconi and the invention of radio.
  • Larson, Erik (2011). In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780307408846. 
  • Concerns William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany and his daughter.
  • Larson, Erik (2015). Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Crown. ISBN 9780307408860. 
  • Teaching and public speaking

    Larson has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State University, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and the University of Oregon, and he has spoken to audiences across the United States.

    Personal life

    Larson has lived in Philadelphia; Bristol, Pennsylvania; San Francisco; and Baltimore. He and his wife have three daughters. They reside in New York City and maintain a home in Seattle, Washington.

    References

    Erik Larson (author) Wikipedia