After finishing at Columbia, Leamer worked as an associate editor at "Newsweek" before turning to writing magazine articles for a range of publications, including "Harper's", "The New York Times Magazine", and "Playboy". During this period, Leamer worked in a coal mine in West Virginia, while researching an article. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he was the only journalist to live in a Bengali hotel in Dacca and travel to remote areas of the newborn Bangladesh. His article in "Harper's" won a citation from the Overseas Press Club for "Best Magazine Reporting".