Erik Larson is the author of several books, including The Devil in the White City. His latest is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.

"I realized then and there, that afternoon, the thing that was going to make this interesting was the juxtaposition of light and dark, good and evil. This monument of civic good will versus this monument to the dark side of human nature. ... But that was really hard to pull off. And, frankly, on the eve of publication I was pretty sure my career was over."

Thanks to TinyLetter, Wealthfront, and Love and Other Ways of Dying, the new collection from Michael Paterniti, for sponsoring this week's episode. 



Show Notes:


@exlarson
eriklarsonbooks.com
[1:00] Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Crown • Mar 2015)
[1:00] Longform Podcast #93: Michael Paterniti
[1:00] "Eating Jack Hooker's Cow" (Michael Paterniti • Esquire • Nov 1997)
[4:00] Thunderstruck (Crown • 2004)
[22:00] Bucks County Courier Times
[29:00] "The Story of a Gun" (The Atlantic • Jan 1993)
[34:00] The Naked Consumer (Penguin • 1994)
[34:00] Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun (Crown • 1994)
[36:00] The Alienist (Random House • 1994)