Tom Zoellner

Tom Zoellner is an editor at large at LARB and a professor of English at Chapman University. He is the author of eight nonfiction books, including The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire (2006), Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World (2009), The National Road: Dispatches From a Changing America (2020), Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona (2023), and Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire, which won the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Bancroft Prize in history.

Articles

Roads to Everywhere
Two books reveal the hidden lives of Los Angeles thoroughfares.
Tom ZoellnerMar 11, 2022
- History
A State of Unwholesome Fermentation: On William J. Bernstein’s “The Delusions of Crowds”
A neurological and historical comparison of mass panics and euphorias.
Tom ZoellnerDec 5, 2021
- Politics
“Nation-Building Is No Mean Task”: A Conversation with Khin Zaw Win
A prominent scholar and dissident speaks out about Myanmar’s military rule.
Aida Baghernejad, Tom ZoellnerOct 25, 2021
- Around the World
The WPA Guides as a Literary School
An engaging history of the nation’s most unlikely travel series.
Tom ZoellnerJul 4, 2021
- History
He Loved Everyone in Trinidad: On Martin J. Smith’s “Going to Trinidad”
A Colorado doctor put his town on the map for gender confirmation surgery. The town didn’t celebrate it.
Tom ZoellnerApr 15, 2021
- Gender & Sexuality
The Rwanda Myth
One of Africa’s most dangerous dictators also happens to be the one most beloved by the West.
Tom ZoellnerApr 3, 2021
- Politics
Dread and Disunity in Las Vegas: A Report from the Nevada Caucuses
LARB politics editor Tom Zoellner reports from the Nevada caucuses.
Tom ZoellnerFeb 24, 2020
- Politics
Remembering Scott Timberg
Los Angeles lost a beloved local writer and his friends remember him.
Alissa Quart, Andy Hermann, Bill Holdship, Charles McNulty, Dana Gioia, Dean Kuipers, Jeff Turrentine, Joe Donnelly, Lynell George, Richard Thompson, Robert George, Stanton Hall, Steve Wasserman, Ted Gioia, Tim Appelo, Tom Zoellner, Tony Ortega, Willis Peter BilderbackDec 16, 2019
All About Awe: A Conversation with Peter Heller
An adventure novelist talks about fishing, kayaking, friendship, and God.
Tom ZoellnerNov 2, 2019
- Fiction
Another Heart of the Matter: An Interview with Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Tom Zoellner talks to British-Ghanaian writer Nii Ayikwei Parkes about his new novel, "Tail of the Blue Bird."
Tom ZoellnerMay 19, 2019
- Around the World
- Fiction
What Is Good in Man Is Love: An Interview with Elias Khoury
A lion of Lebanese literature reflects on art, religion, memory, and pain.
Tom ZoellnerFeb 18, 2019
Doomed to Survive, but Not Live: An Interview with Joumana Haddad
A Lebanese essayist speaks out against the domination of the body.
Tom ZoellnerFeb 11, 2019
Ascent of Mann
Tom Zoellner on the historic Thomas Mann house in LA's Pacific Palisades.
Tom ZoellnerJun 20, 2018
Why Won't Keirstead or Rouda Bow Out, Open Door for Rohrabacher Defeat in CA 48?
Tom Zoellner talks to Harley Rouda and Hans Keirstead, the two top democrats with a chance to defeat Dana Rohrabacher in the CA 48 primary.
Tom ZoellnerJun 3, 2018
Making It in L.A.: An Interview with Joe Donnelly
Joe Donnelly talks about L.A. culture, the art of the interview, the formalism of celebrity profiles, and his ideal partner for a long road trip.
Tom ZoellnerJun 1, 2018
- Memoir & Essay
The Serial Killer as a Marketing Genius
Tom Zoellner on the Zodiac Killer and the man who's still searching for him.
Tom ZoellnerMay 21, 2018
- History
- Noir