Meghan Daum: Essay-writing in the era of outrage

What's the line between a personal essay and a hot take? Takes are written quickly, maybe flippantly, to latch onto a news hook. But essays are longer, more thoughtful and nearly impossible to write once a week.

Meghan Daum has done both. And her latest book, The Catastrophe Hour, compiles a selection of her essays from 2016-2023, touching on cultural issues and providing insight into her approach to essay writing, which eschews both moral authority and excessive self-deprecation.

Daum, who is not herself Jewish (but gets a title of "honourary Jew"), joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy for a discussion on opinion-writing, cultural representation and cancel culture and the value of being an "outlier" in today's cultural landscape.

Credits

• Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy
• Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman
• Music: "Gypsy Waltz" by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective

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