Crafting Narratives from History w. DAVID K. RANDALL

David K. Randall

David K. Randall’s new book, Black Death at the Golden Gate, is out now from W.W. Norton. (Buy now from IndieBound.) David is a senior reporter at Reuters and the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland and The King and Queen of Malibu. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Discussed In This Episode

“Why wasn’t this a bigger deal?” Fake news wasn’t invented in the 21st century. Racism and denying science. “Disease has a way of bringing out the worst in communities.” Conducting historical research. Giving real (dead) people interiority. How family dynamics can be the key to a character’s point of view. Organizing—and color-coding!—your notes. Every hour adds up. Just get something down on paper. “There’s always going to be some constraint.” Realizing that the world is going to move on. What allows you to keep doing the work.

Bonus Segment: David’s Favorite Literary Nonfiction

David talks about the works of historical literary nonfiction that were on his desk while he was writing Black Death at the Golden Gate.

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