My job as a journalist is to gather facts and tell a compelling story and get people engaged. I don’t think of myself as an activist, even if I find something outrageous, and I’m confused that other people aren’t outraged. I never think about the impact a story might have.
The themes recur, but hopefully the characters and the lives they lead are varied.Īre you just trying to tell interesting stories in your work or do you hope to effect change? I’ve always been interested in denial and the stories people tell themselves, their families and their communities to rationalize the bad things they’ve done.
I’m fascinated by the categories we have for what is legal and illegal and what we call a crime and how we define those things. I thought I had free will when I’m picking stories, but in retrospect, I saw I keep going back to a handful of themes. In the moment I never feel like I’m pursuing a particular theme or subject, I’m just chasing whatever story is interesting. I move from one subject to another, parachuting into a story, spending three to six months on it, then moving on to the next thing. I love getting to be a professional dilettante. The emphasis in “Rogues,” out this week, is on criminals (from insider traders on up to El Chapo), but the stories cover a wide range of people, including celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain a computer technician who revealed the secrets of the Swiss banking industry the death penalty lawyer who defended the Boston Marathon bomber and producer Mark Burnett, who resurrected Donald Trump with “The Apprentice.” Keefe’s previous two books were both acclaimed bestsellers, full-length nonfiction narratives about the Troubles in Northern Ireland (“Say Nothing”) and how the Sackler family drove America into the opioid crisis (“ Empire of Pain”). These three are brought vividly to life in “ Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks,” a collection of Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker articles. Amy Bishop is the rare woman mass shooter, with a deadly secret in her past.
Hardy Rodenstock may be the greatest con artist in the world of vintage wines. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.Īstrid Holleeder is the sister of a Dutch gangster, risking her life to bring him down. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
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