“I’ve thought more about men who saw combat in World War I,’’ he says, “and have eased up on a few of the characters.” His new novel is about 20th-century labor strife.
A Brookings Institution scholar, he advised presidents and wrote books on the media (assessing reporters in one) and government (including a study of beleaguered press officers).
Renowned in his field, he counted among his clients five Nobel laureates, including Elie Wiesel, and eight Pulitzer winners as well as the estates of Tennessee Williams and Aldous Huxley.