Adam Begley's guest appearances

Adam Begley

The Eric Metaxas Show

The Book Club

Boston Athenæum

PW Insider

Mark Kurlansky

Karen Abbott

Nathaniel Philbrick

William Dalrymple

Charles Spencer

Steven Pinker

Anne Sebba

Simon Winchester

Emma Smith

Alyssa Cole

Seamus Heaney

Lawrence Levy

Justin Martin

David Brooks

Jon Stewart

OwlTail

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the biographer Adam Begley. Adam's work includes biographies of John Updike and the Belle Epoque photographer, cartoonist and aeronaut Felix Tournachon, aka Nadar. In his new book he turns his attention to the great escapologist Harry Houdini. I asked him what it was that made Houdini special, what challenges a lifelong myth-maker (aka inveterate liar) poses to the biographer, and how Adam tends to get on with his subjects. As Adam describes in our talk, you can watch a video of Houdini in action here.  Presented by Sam Leith.  Get a subscription to The Spectator as well as a copy of Lionel Shriver's book, all for free here.

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the biographer Adam Begley. Adam's work includes biographies of John Updike and the Belle Epoque photographer, cartoonist and aeronaut Felix Tournachon, aka Nadar. In his new book he turns his attention to the great escapologist Harry Houdini. I asked him what it was that made Houdini special, what challenges a lifelong myth-maker (aka inveterate liar) poses to the biographer, and how Adam tends to get on with his subjects. As Adam describes in our talk, you can watch a video of Houdini in action <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_HHFMSmHCQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. Presented by Sam Leith. Get a subscription to The Spectator as well as a copy of Lionel Shriver's book, all for free <a href="https://subscription.spectator.co.uk/?prom=A571G&amp;pkgcode=03" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.

Adam Begley: Houdini

September 6, 2017 at the Boston Athenæum.The first great portrait photographer, a pioneering balloonist, the first person to take an aerial photograph, and the prime mover behind the first airmail service, Nadar was one of the original celebrity artist-entrepreneurs. A kind of 19th-century Andy Warhol, he knew everyone worth knowing and photographed them all, conferring on posterity psychologically compelling portraits of Manet, Sarah Bernhardt, Delacroix, Daumier and countless others—a priceless panorama of Parisian celebrity. The Great Nadar is a brilliant, lavishly illustrated biography of a larger-than-life figure, a visionary whose outsized talent and canny self-promotion put him way ahead of his time.

September 6, 2017 at the Boston Athenæum. The first great portrait photographer, a pioneering balloonist, the first person to take an aerial photograph, and the prime mover behind the first airmail service, Nadar was one of the original celebrity artist-entrepreneurs. A kind of 19th-century Andy Warhol, he knew everyone worth knowing and photographed them all, conferring on posterity psychologically compelling portraits of Manet, Sarah Bernhardt, Delacroix, Daumier and countless others—a priceless panorama of Parisian celebrity. The Great Nadar is a brilliant, lavishly illustrated biography of a larger-than-life figure, a visionary whose outsized talent and canny self-promotion put him way ahead of his time.

Adam Begley, “The Great Nadar: The Man Behind the Camera”

Adam Begley discusses his new biography, "Updike." Reviews editor Alex Crowley talks new poetry for PW's annual celebration of Poetry Month.

PW Radio 65: Adam Begley