He is the author of two books on Brazilian music. One of which, "The Brazilian Sound," (Temple University Press), is now in its 3rd U.S. edition and has been translated into French, German, Korean and Japanese. McGowan has written extensively about Brazil, and been interviewed about Brazilian music and culture by the BBC, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN Online, AirTalk, and various NPR affiliates. McGowan is also the author of "Entertainment in the Cyber Zone: Exploring the Interactive Universe of Multimedia" (Random House), a history of digital media, video games, and virtual worlds. He has blogged about Brazil, politics, environmental issues and music for The Huffington Post.