December 12, 2022 
The Daily Beast
Talking about the recent global wave of autocracy.
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July 10, 2022 
The Daily Beast
Maud Newton on the historical skeletons in the family closet.
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May 30, 2022 
The Daily Beast
Film scholar David Thomson on why we love watching disasters.
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March 8, 2022 
Washington Post
Talking to Chuck Klosterman about Nirvana, generations, and “ecstatic complacency.”
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February 25, 2022 
LA Review of Books
Dino and Sammy in toxic heaven.
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February 7, 2022 
The Daily Beast
On the history of brainwashing
Pavlov, the CIA, Heaven’s Gate. _____________________________________________________________________________
January 8, 2022 
The Daily Beast
Mapping the political divide.
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November 17, 2021 
The Daily Beast
Author Mary Roach’s walk on the wild side.
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August 22, 2021 
The Daily Beast
Cocaine & Rhinestones’ encyclopedic second season digs into the darkness of old possum.
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July 26, 2021 
The Daily Beast
The host of The Hidden Brain podcast on using your illusion.
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July 20, 2021 
The Arts Fuse
The novelist and poet on class, race, and the art life.
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July 4, 2021 
The Daily Beast
Talking with a historian about “critical patriotism.”
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June 10, 2021
The Daily Beast
Karina Longworth on tabloids of old Hollywood.
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December 17, 2020 
The Smart Set
Film critic David Thomson and “the frenzy on the screen.”
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September 28, 2020 
The Daily Beast
Reclaiming the populist legacy from Trumpism.
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August 22, 2020 
The Daily Beast
Hurricane Katrina from 1915-2015
Talking to a Tulane history professor about the flood.
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May 28, 2020 
The Arts Fuse
On the hidden pleasures of an intellectual life.
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February 13, 2020 
The Arts Fuse
Is ambition worthwhile in a world without justice?
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March 1, 2019 
The Arts Fuse
Clive James: Writing Against the Dying of the Light
The last interview James ever gave.
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November 13, 2018
The Arts Fuse
Book Review/Interview: Talking “Upstate” With Critic James Wood
“I like implication very much; there’s a fiction of implication that I think I’ve championed over the fiction of explication.”
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May 8, 2018
The Arts Fuse
Book Review and Interview: Steve Almond’s “Bad Stories”
“We built this form of democracy and now we must stand up to what it’s become and say ‘I don’t consent to this.'”
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January 11, 2018
The Arts Fuse
Music Interview: Henry Rollins — Forever Wired
Henry Rollins insists on defining himself strictly on his own terms.
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April 21, 2017
The Arts Fuse
Poet Martín Espada — Resistance is Obligatory
Martín Espada’s lyricism sings deeply in the key of loss, turning the anguish of social and personal histories into hope.
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December 12, 2016
The Arts Fuse
George Scialabba on Low Dishonest Decades — and the Dishonesty to Come
Reading the essays in this collection is like receiving a first-rate tutorial on the way we live now and how we got here.
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November 29, 2016
The Arts Fuse
FilmStruck — Streaming Service for Classic Movies Arrives
FilmStruck’s streaming service isn’t just an archive, it’s also an opportunity to reframe and refresh what these films can still do long after their initial release. I spoke with Criterion Collection President Peter Becker about it.
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August 19, 2016
The Arts Fuse
“Listen, Liberal” — What’s the Matter with the Democrats?
Bay Staters, take heed: according to Thomas Frank, the problem isn’t just with the Party, but with the reliably blue states as well.
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May 19, 2016
The Arts Fuse
Saxophonist Grace Kelly — On Jazz and Beyond
“My hope is that in the near future the mainstream music pendulum will swing much more heavily towards giving jazz the attention it deserves.”
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March 2, 2016
The Arts Fuse
Edgar Allan Poe — America’s Maestro of Suffering
The Annotated Poe invites readers to take a fresh look at Edgar Allan Poe and his far-ranging artistic legacy. Novelist William Giraldi talks about his introduction.
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January 12, 2016
The Arts Fuse
Tim Jackson — on Robin Lane, The Band That Time Forgot, Johnny D’s, and the End of an Era
“I hope that these new venues still want to book the occasional seasoned musician, because audiences of all ages still love rock and roll.”
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November 19, 2015
The Arts Fuse
Langhorne Slim’s “Spirit” is Moving, Come Hell or High Water
The Spirit Moves is imbued with a sense of rebirth, emotional and creative, that pairs well with Langhorne Slim’s trademark barn-burning intensity.
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April 29, 2014
The Arts Fuse
Author Interview: Novelist Elizatbeth Graver on “The End of the Point”
“The space between fantasy and reality is a very charged one. Fiction can explore that, which might be one reason why I’m so drawn to it as a form.”