# Erik Larson (author)

Erik Larson (born January 3, 1954) is an American journalist and author of mostly historical nonfiction books. His books include Isaac's Storm (1999), The Devil in the White City (2003), In the Garden of Beasts (2011), and Dead Wake (2015). The Devil in the White City won the 2004 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, among other awards.

## Early life and education

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.

## Writing career

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. 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 included among his literary inspirations David McCullough, Barbara Tuchman, David Halberstam, and Walter Lord.
Larson's 2006 book, Thunderstruck, intersperses the story of Hawley Harvey Crippen with that of Guglielmo Marconi and the invention of radio.
Larson released his first novel in audiobook format only, titled No One Goes Alone, on September 28, 2021.

### 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, Dr. Christine Gleason, have three daughters. They reside in New York City and maintain a home in Seattle, Washington.

## Works

| Title | Year | ISBN | Publisher | Subject matter | Interviews, presentations, and reviews | Comments |
| The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities | 1992 | ISBN 9780805017557 | Henry Holt and Company | Consumer privacy, Market research | | |
| Lethal Passage | 1994 | ISBN 9780517596777 | Crown Publishers | Gun culture in the U.S., Gun law in the U.S., Gun politics in the U.S., Gun violence in the U.S. | | The subtitle for the 1994 hardcover version is How the Travels of a Single Handgun Expose the Roots of America's Gun Crisis; The subtitle of the 1995 paperback version is The Story of a Gun. |
| Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History | 1999 | ISBN 9780609602331 | Random House | Isaac Cline, 1900 Galveston hurricane | Presentation by Larson on Isaac's Storm, November 6, 1999, C-SPAN Presentation by Larson on Isaac's Storm, August 22, 2000, C-SPAN Book group discussion on Isaac's Storm, November 21, 2005, C-SPAN | |
| The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America | 2002 | ISBN 9780609608449 | Crown Publishers | World's Columbian Exposition, Daniel Burnham, H. H. Holmes | Presentation by Larson on The Devil in the White City, February 18, 2003, C-SPAN Booknotes interview with Larson on The Devil in the White City, September 14, 2003, C-SPAN Book group discussion on The Devil in the White City, October 13, 2005, C-SPAN | |
| Thunderstruck | 2006 | ISBN 9781400080663 | Crown Publishers | Hawley Harvey Crippen, Guglielmo Marconi | Presentation by Larson on Thunderstruck, June 9, 2007, C-SPAN | |
| In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin | 2011 | ISBN 9780307408846 | Crown Publishers | William Dodd, Nazification of Germany | Fresh Air interview with Larson on In the Garden of the Beasts, May 2, 2011, National Public Radio Presentation by Larson on In the Garden of the Beasts, May 23, 2011, C-SPAN Q&A interview with Larson on In the Garden of the Beasts, July 24, 2011, C-SPAN | |
| Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania | 2015 | ISBN 9780307408860 | Crown Publishers | Sinking of the RMS Lusitania | Q&A interview with Larson on Dead Wake, March 29, 2015, C-SPAN Presentation by Larson on Dead Wake, March 27, 2015, C-SPAN Presentation by Larson on Dead Wake, June 6, 2015, C-SPAN | |
| The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz | 2020 | ISBN 9780385348713 | Penguin Random House | The Blitz, Winston Churchill in the Second World War | Interview with Larson on The Splendid and the Vile, May 5, 2020, C-SPAN | |
| No One Goes Alone | 2021 | ISBN 9780593557945 | Penguin Random House | William James | | Fiction; Audiobook only. |
| The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War | 2024 | ISBN 9780385348744 | Crown Books | American Civil War | Erik Larson On The Dawn Of The Civil War, May 1, 2024, NPR UNUM Chat: Ken Burns and Erik Larson, May 2024, Ken Burns | |