In Washington, we had a grieving President Wilson, very, very much a lonely, grieving man. He had lost his wife of many years in August 1914 at about the same time the war broke out in Europe. Erik Larson Read Quote
I didn’t know anything about the Lusitania. I started reading because I had nothing else in my plate. And as soon as I start reading, I thought now this is interesting, you know, the hows of what happened, the actual – the actual sinking of the ship. Erik Larson Read Quote
I have found from experience that it is often interesting and useful to start from the edges and work inward – another flaw of mine. I seldom approach things directly. I would have made a great moth. Erik Larson Read Quote
I write to be read. I’m quite direct about that. I’m not writing to thrill colleagues or to impress the professors at the University of Iowa; that’s not my goal. Erik Larson Read Quote
It troubled me that we had these reports of torture of detainees, we had people jailed at Guantanamo Bay who couldn’t even talk to their lawyers and couldn’t see the evidence against them – sort of fundamental bedrock civil liberties things. Erik Larson Read Quote
I found a book facing out that I’d always meant to read: William Shirer’s ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.’ About a third of the way through, I suddenly, finally caught up to the fact that Shirer had been there in Berlin, from 1934 on, and was finally kicked out when the U.S. entered the war. Erik Larson Read Quote
When I’m interviewing somebody, I take notes with a Bic Cristal, the classic black-cap, clear-body, medium-weight pen. It works on many levels: You can chew the cap, and if you’re really bored, you can bite the end off the back. Erik Larson Read Quote
When I’m in New York, I have, like probably everybody else in Manhattan, a white-noise generator to use at night: a Marpac Dual-Speed Dohm-DS. It is terrific. I’ve never slept better in the city. Erik Larson Read Quote
Trying to find ideas is the hardest part of my job. You’d think it would be the most fun. Just sitting around reading whatever I want, going to cafes and libraries. But I always feel so unproductive. I think I was raised too well by my parents. Erik Larson Read Quote
That’s what I love about history – nuance. I don’t believe in unalloyed heroes. Everyone’s got warts, and everyone’s got a surprise side. Erik Larson Read Quote
