Lewis Lapham, formerly the editor of Harper's, is the founder of Lapham's Quarterly.

"The best part of my job was to come across a manuscript. You never knew what would show up. ... I always had the sense of opening a present, hoping to be both delighted and surprised. Often I was disappointed. But when I wasn't, it was a lot of fun. And word got around that I was that kind of an editor, that I was willing to try anything if you could make it interesting."

Thanks to TinyLetter and GoDaddy for sponsoring this week's episode.



Show Notes:


Lapham's Quarterly
Lapham on Longform
[2:30] With the Beatles (Melville House • Oct 2005)
[17:00] "Who is Lyndon B. Johnson?" (The Saturday Evening Post • Sep 1965) [unavailable online]
[21:00] "Monk: High Priest of Jazz" (The Saturday Evening Post • Apr 1964) [unavailable online]
[29:00] "Alaksa: Politicians and Natives, Money and Oil" (Harper's • May 1970) [paywall]
[31:00] "The Coming Wounds of Wall Street" (Harper's • May 1971) [paywall]
[43:30] "Harper's Lapham: Good-bye, Long Tale" (Christopher Swan • The Christian Science Monitor • July 1985)