ABOUT

I grew up in rural Illinois, the son of an elementary school librarian and a veterinarian. I was educated at Williams College; Exeter College, Oxford; and Princeton Theological Seminary. After working as a political speech writer, I began writing for magazines and newspapers including the New York Times and The Atlantic. My early essays and articles received awards from PEN/New England, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and GLAAD.

As a longtime contributing editor at Vanity Fair, I wrote about culture, politics, religion, crime, business, technology and national security, and discussed my stories for the magazine on many national TV and radio shows, including CBS Mornings, CBS Sunday Morning, AC 360, Morning Joe, The News Hour, Leonard Lopate, and Morning Edition. Of all my VF stories, this is one of my favorites: a love story about a breeder of Pembroke Welsh Corgi dogs who happened to be a Queen.

My new book Stronger: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives is about a handful of extraordinary doctors, scientists, athletes, and scholars whose quests for strength can help all of us find the strength to meet life’s challenges. I also wrote  Starstruck: When A Fan Gets Close to Fame, about the gravitational pull of celebrity, and I was the ghostwriter of a number one New York Times bestseller.