Kurt Andersen Presents a Solution in His Latest Book

By Joseph Montebello

First and foremost Kurt Andersen is a writer, although he has successfully done a myriad of other things: co-founder of Spy magazine, editor in chief of New York magazine, cultural columnist and critic for Time and The New Yorker; and host and co-creator of the public radio show and podcast Studio 360, which ran for 20 years. During his impressive career, he has also written several novels and nonfiction books as well, the most recent being Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History. Recently Andersen appeared at House of Books in Kent, in conversation with author Kerri Arsenault, to celebrate the release of the paperback edition.

Evil Geniuses is a follow-up to his previous book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History. Published to rave reviews, critics unequivocally called it “an important book—the indispensable book—for understanding America in the age of Trump.”

“Ironically I started writing Fantasyland in 2014 and turned it in before Trump was nominated,” explains Andersen. “I had been writing a novel, then Trump came along and became the poster boy for this book I had been working on for years.”

But Fantasyland only told half the story and Andersen had much more to say. He writes in the introduction to Evil Geniuses: “In Fantasyland I explained the deep, centuries-long history of this American knack for creating and believing the excitingly untrue. As soon as I finished writing that book we elected a president who was its single most florid and consequential expression ever, a poster boy embodying all of its themes.”

Taken together, Andersen’s two volumes are companion pieces, tracing the changes that began with the 1960s revolutions through to the recent years where the American economy was totally reengineered to favor Wall Street and big business. Now, with a new regime in place, Andersen is hopeful that positive changes will occur.

“The hardcover edition of Evil Geniuses was published before the election and we avoided stepping into the abyss,” says Andersen. “I am semi-hopeful. Build Back Better. But you don’t do it overnight.”

Having produced two nonfiction books in a row, Andersen, the author of the bestselling novels True Believers, Heyday, and Turn of the Century, is planning to return to writing fiction. He already has a couple of different ideas formulating. But that’s not surprising since here is the man who started one of the great magazines of the later 20th century, started a website during the dot.com boom, hosted a successful radio show and podcast, and written television and screenplays as well.

Andersen and his wife have had a weekend home in Cornwall Bridge since 2014.

“We missed communicating with nature,” he explains, “so we started looking for a country house. We found one we fell in love with not far from some childhood friends. Cornwall Bridge has that rural, low-key, old-shoe quality that we love about our home in Brooklyn where we have lived for 30 years.”