February 22, 2024

A family tragedy off-grid

I wrote for Outside magazine about the puzzling and tragic case of Rebecca Vance, who believed from the internet that people were about to be turned into machines and took her 13-year-old son and her sister “off-grid” to be “safe” at a campsite at 10,000 feet.

Read More

April 2, 2023

more 2023 events

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with writer Lisa Wells, recently out in The Common.

Here are some places I’m excited to be speaking this summer:

Read More

February 12, 2023

Scam or Not a Scam?

The land I write about (and now own a piece of) was sold in the 1970s by mail. It was so cheap that people usually bought it sight unseen, from newspaper ads: $30 down and $30 a month for 12 years was a common deal. The federal government said it was a fraud, and this TV investigation from the time seems to agree. (Click READ MORE to go to YouTube.)

Read More

January 30, 2023

On the Horizon

More talks and appearances coming up this year. (Check back soon—additional dates on the way!)

Read More

October 24, 2022

Cheap Land Colorado Book Tour

The days of the virtual book tour are behind us—I’ll be speaking and signing books in person at these wonderful places in coming weeks. Please stop by and say hello.

Read More

May 17, 2022

New book on the way

My new book about life off-grid in Colorado’s San Luis Valley comes out this fall, and I’m super excited about it. Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge describes the unusual people who choose to live on that beautiful, lonely prairie…

Read More

July 18, 2019

Off-grid

For the past couple of years I reported “The Last Frontier,” the cover story of the August 2019 issue of Harper’s Magazine. It’s a tale of alienation and ingenuity, politics and […]

Read More

January 18, 2018

The price of dignity

My latest article is “The Strike That Brought MLK to Memphis,” in the January 2018 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. Dr. Martin Luther King came to Memphis to support striking sanitation […]

Read More

March 28, 2017

IN A SEMINAR (DENVER)

    To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at (617) 266-3450.

Read More

March 28, 2017

Reading and Q&A

MARCH 28, 2017, 7:00 PM Reading and Q&A Connecticut College, New London, CT To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at (617) 266-3450.

Read More

February 28, 2017

Frank B. Hanes Writer-in-Residence Reading

FEBRUARY 28, 2017, 7:30 PM Frank B. Hanes Writer-in-Residence Reading University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill   To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at […]

Read More

February 23, 2017

Talk & Book Signing

FEBRUARY 23, 2017, 7:30 PM Talk & Book Signing [words] Bookstore, 179 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ 07040   To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at […]

Read More

February 20, 2017

Thinking Like a Social Scientist, Writing Like a Journalist

FEBRUARY 20, 2017, 4:30 PM Thinking Like a Social Scientist, Writing Like a Journalist Rutgers University, Alexander Library, Teleconference Lecture Hall, 169 College Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901   To […]

Read More

February 8, 2017

Shane Bauer in Conversation with Ted Conover

FEBRUARY 8, 2017, 6:30 PM Shane Bauer in Conversation with Ted Conover NYU Arthur L Carter Journalism Institute, 20 Cooper Sq., 7th fl Common, New York, NY 10003   To […]

Read More

December 1, 2016

Reading and Q/A on Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep

DECEMBER 1, 2016, 6-8 PM Reading and Q/A on Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep Meg Cohen Design Shop, 59 Thompson St., New York, NY 10012 To book an appearance, […]

Read More

November 22, 2016

“Lecture and Q&A” Gerard van Westerloolezing of the Stichting Verhalende Journalistiek

NOVEMBER 22, 2016 “Lecture and Q&A” Gerard van Westerloolezing of the Stichting Verhalende Journalistiek (Initiative for Narrative Journalism in the Netherlands) Amsterdam, Netherlands   To book an appearance, please email Jodi […]

Read More

November 20, 2016

Keynote: Danish International Media Festival

NOVEMBER 20-21, 2016 Keynote: Danish International Media Festival Fagfestival ’16, Odense, Denmark   To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at (617) 266-3450.

Read More

November 17, 2016

Reading and Q/A with Harper’s editor James Marcus on Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep

NOVEMBER 17, 2016, 7:00 PM Reading and Q/A with Harper’s editor James Marcus on Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep Book Culture, 450 Columbus Ave, New York, NY   To […]

Read More