Steven Beschloss
Writer, journalist, filmmaker, professor
Steven Beschloss is an award-winning writer, journalist, editor, filmmaker and educator. He writes and publishes America, America, a popular Substack newsletter on politics and society, democracy and justice.
His articles and essays have been published by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, Smithsonian, The Economist Intelligence Unit and many others.
Books by Beschloss include Adrift and The Gunman and His Mother: Lee Harvey Oswald, Marguerite Oswald and The Making of an Assassin.
His films, as both writer and producer, include the noir thriller Paris and The Miracle, a fictional documentary about an American TV journalist in Russia.
Beschloss is a graduate of Haverford College and the master’s program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He also studied in the London School of Economics’ graduate school.
He is an adjunct professor at New York University, previously served as a professor of practice at Arizona State University and is a founding director of the Narrative Storytelling Initiative.
Selected Articles and Conversation Highlights
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What the Voters Chose, What We Do Now
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Rooting Against Trump's America
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Can America Ever Overcome the Shame of Trump?
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The Sociopaths Think Victory Is Theirs
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The Demolition of a Welcoming World
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A Lawless President's Contempt
JD Vance Further Antagonizes America’s Allies
Adrift: Charting Our Course Back to a Great Nation
Books
The Gunman and His Mother: Lee Harvey Oswald, Marguerite Oswald, and the Making of an Assassin
Other Writing
In 1942, at the New York mansion of the American industrialist John Pierpont Morgan, crowds filed past a large mural titled “Automatic Hitler-Kicking Machine,” which depicted a complex and satisfying contraption involving a cat, a mouse, a stripteaser, and the Führer.
—published in The New Yorker
Read more of Object of Interest: Rube Goldberg Machines here
On November 25, 1963, the nation’s gaze was transfixed by the horse-drawn caisson and final burial of President John F. Kennedy. But in the shadow of this grim but stirring procession—on that same Monday—Lee Harvey Oswald was quietly buried in Fort Worth, Texas.
—published in Smithsonian Magazine
Read More of When Lee Harvey Oswald Shot the President, His Mother Tried to Take Center Stage here
On a wintry day in Kallio, a bohemian neighborhood in Helsinki, a group of Finns huddle outside on wooden benches, clad only in towels, steam rising from their bodies, drinking beer, relaxed. This is the conclusion of their ritual at Kotiharjun Sauna, a wood-heated sauna built in 1928 for local factory workers.
—published in National Geographic Traveler
Read More of Finland’s Sauna Obsession here
Storms, wildfires, and other such disasters are getting more common and intense as climate change accelerates. Scott, Duncan, Laufer, and Mackey, who survived these extreme weather events, are among the lucky ones. But each of them found themselves changed by the experience.
—published in The New Republic
Read more of Lessons From the Frontlines of Global Warming here
When Chief Justice Roberts reminded advocates to avoid language ‘not conductive to civil discourse,’ he helped shift the focus from damning facts.
—published in The Washington Post
Read more of A Little ‘Civility’ Can Be a Dangerous Thing. Even in the Impeachment Trial here
Films
Shot in St. Petersburg, Russia, The Miracle is about an American journalist who goes to post-Soviet Russia with the impossible assignment of filming a miracle. Steven co-wrote and starred in this television film, which was the focus of debate by leading journalists at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and first broadcast in France and Germany on ARTE.
The Miracle
Shot in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Death Valley, this independent feature premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival, was acquired by Blockbuster and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, sold to more than 20 countries, and aired on Showtime’s movie channels. Steven co-wrote the screenplay and managed the production as a co-producer.
Paris