Where are you from?
Boston.
Who are your favorite writers?
Ronald Steel, Wallace Stevens, Katherine Boo, George Kennan, Edmund Morris, Vlad Zubok, Michael Lewis.
Which book/books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
Ronald Steel’s Walter Lippmann and the American Century. George Kennan’s Memoirs, Volume I and II.
What are your hobbies and outside interests?
Guitar, running, politics.
What is the single best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
Avoid trivia. (No one said that to me. Dean Acheson said it to George Kennan. But it’s great advice!)
What is the question most commonly asked by your readers? What is the answer?
Who do I think was right?
It changes by the day.
Where do you write?
I wrote the first half of the book in the baby’s room. Then the baby arrived and I wrote the rest in the dining room.
