Esquire Classic Podcast

A timely and revealing update of some of the most groundbreaking narrative journalism ever published by Esquire since its founding in 1933. Presented by PRX and Esquire Magazine.

Episodes

Don’t Mess With Roy Cohn, by Ken Auletta

December 22, 2016 • 26 mins

If president-elect Donald Trump learned anything from his mentor Roy Cohn, it was this: punch first and never apologize. Cohn was notorious for going on the attack—as counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy during the communist witch-hunts of the fifties, and later as a pugnacious attorney for whom the only bad publicity was no publicity. With … Continue reading

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The Plane at the Bottom of the Ocean, by Bucky McMahon

December 13, 2016 • 26 mins

The question is astonishingly simple: In the year 2015, with GPS and satellites and global surveillance everywhere all the time, how does a massive airplane simply go missing? To find the answer, writer Bucky McMahon boarded one of the vessels searching for Malaysia Air 370 in one of the most isolated and treacherous stretches of … Continue reading

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The Price of Being President, by Richard Ben Cramer

December 6, 2016 • 23 mins

Published in 1992, Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: The Way to the White House remains the richest and most unvarnished account of the personal price of running for president. The irony, as Cramer pointed out to C-SPAN shortly after the book came out, is that to become president a candidate must sacrifice the entire life that … Continue reading

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The Old Man and the River, by Pete Dexter

November 28, 2016 • 22 mins

Norman Maclean published A River Runs Through It when he was seventy-three, and only after his children implored him to write down the stories about fly-fishing, brotherhood, and the wilds of Montana that he’d told them for years. The resulting novella is a classic of economy and clarity. A few years later, Pete Dexter visited Maclean in … Continue reading

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The Days of Wine and Pig Hocks, by Jim Harrison

November 21, 2016 • 24 mins

Jim Harrison, the novelist and poet who died earlier this year at the age of 78, had a gargantuan, fearless appetite that would make both A.J. Liebling and Anthony Bourdain proud. He wrote about food—about eating, really— in a woolly, baroque style for Esquire’s “The Raw and the Cooked” column. He began one piece with … Continue reading

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Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case! by Garry Wills

November 14, 2016 • 30 mins

12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley discusses Garry Wills’s 1968 profile, “Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case!”

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Love in the Time of Magic, by E. Jean Carroll

November 7, 2016 • 29 mins

A chronicle of risk and romance on the sidelines of the NBA

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The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce, by Tom Wolfe

October 31, 2016 • 25 mins

A meeting of two American masters: Robert Noyce and Tom Wolfe.

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The House That Thurman Munson Built, by Michael Paterniti

October 24, 2016 • 26 mins

Trust me, he said, and the last great brawling sports team in America did. Twenty years after Thurman Munson’s death, Reggie, Catfish, Goose, Gator, the Boss—and a nation of former boys—still aren’t over it.

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The Crack-Up, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

October 17, 2016 • 33 mins

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Crack-Up," a series of essays from 1936 about his alcoholism and mental breakdown, set off a genre of confessional writing that persists and thrives today.

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The Brain That Changed Everything, by Luke Dittrich

October 10, 2016 • 34 mins

When a surgeon cut into Henry Molaison’s skull to treat him for epilepsy, he inadvertently created the most important brain-research subject of our time—a man who could no longer remember, who taught us everything we know about memory. Six decades later, another daring researcher is cutting into Henry’s brain. Another revolution in brain science is about to begin.

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“I, Stalkerazzi” and “Angelina Jolie and the Torture of Fame,” by John H. Richardson

October 3, 2016 • 27 mins

John H. Richardson on our cultural infatuation with celebrity and the humanity that lurks on both sides of the camera lens.

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Nureyev Dancing In His Own Shadow, by Elizabeth Kaye

September 26, 2016 • 28 mins

At the end of a glorious career, the defiant legend takes refuge in his most cherished partner—himself.

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Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, by Gay Talese

September 19, 2016 • 31 mins

And some of the most important people in some of the most important places in New York, New Jersey, Southern California and Las Vegas are suddenly developing postnasal drip

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Styron’s Choices, by Philip Caputo

September 12, 2016 • 25 mins

The artist’s life demands solitude, sensitivity, and often a little something to get him through the night. The very same things can destroy him

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The Falling Man, by Tom Junod

September 6, 2016 • 33 mins

Do you remember this photograph?

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The American Male at Age Ten, by Susan Orlean

August 29, 2016 • 26 mins

What it feels like to be a boy in America.

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My Father, the Bachelor, by Martha Sherrill

August 22, 2016 • 28 mins

He was a beautiful man, and someone had to liberate these women from their marriages. When he died, women grieved. Lots and lots of women.

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A Few Words About Breasts, by Nora Ephron

August 15, 2016 • 41 mins

Shaping Up absurd.

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Edwin Moses, by Mark Kram

August 8, 2016 • 25 mins

A Hurdler in Inner Space.

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Esquire Classic Podcast

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Don’t Mess With Roy Cohn, by Ken Auletta

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}The Plane at the Bottom of the Ocean, by Bucky McMahon

The Price of Being President, by Richard Ben Cramer

The Old Man and the River, by Pete Dexter

The Days of Wine and Pig Hocks, by Jim Harrison

Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case! by Garry Wills

Love in the Time of Magic, by E. Jean Carroll

The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce, by Tom Wolfe

The House That Thurman Munson Built, by Michael Paterniti

The Crack-Up, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Brain That Changed Everything, by Luke Dittrich

“I, Stalkerazzi” and “Angelina Jolie and the Torture of Fame,” by John H. Richardson

Nureyev Dancing In His Own Shadow, by Elizabeth Kaye

Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, by Gay Talese

Styron’s Choices, by Philip Caputo

The Falling Man, by Tom Junod

The American Male at Age Ten, by Susan Orlean

My Father, the Bachelor, by Martha Sherrill

A Few Words About Breasts, by Nora Ephron

Edwin Moses, by Mark Kram

Popular Podcasts

Don’t Mess With Roy Cohn, by Ken Auletta

The Plane at the Bottom of the Ocean, by Bucky McMahon