Eric Schlosser | |
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Born | Eric Matthew Schlosser August 17, 1959 Manhattan, New York |
Occupation | Investigative writer |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Princeton University |
Period | 1995—present |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Notable works |
Fast Food Nation (2001) Reefer Madness (2003) Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (2013) |
Spouse | Shauna Jean Redford (m. 1985; 2 children) |
Eric Matthew Schlosser (born August 17, 1959) is an American journalist and author known for investigative journalism, such as in his books Fast Food Nation (2001), Reefer Madness (2003), and Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (2013).
Schlosser was born in Manhattan, New York; he spent his childhood there and in Los Angeles, California. His parents are Judith (née Gassner) and Herbert Schlosser, a former Wall Street lawyer who turned to broadcasting later in his career, eventually becoming the President of NBC in 1974.
Schlosser studied American History at Princeton University and earned a graduate degree in British Imperial History from Oxford. He tried playwriting, and wrote two plays, Americans (1985) and We the People (2007).
Schlosser started his career as a journalist with The Atlantic Monthly in Boston, Massachusetts. He quickly gained recognition for his investigative pieces, earning two awards within two years of joining the staff: he won the National Magazine Award for reporting for his two-part series "Reefer Madness" and "Marijuana and the Law" (Atlantic Monthly, August and September, 1994), and he won the Sidney Hillman Foundation award for his article "In the Strawberry Fields" (Atlantic Monthly, November 19, 1995).
Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation (2001), an exposé on the unsanitary and discriminatory practices of the fast food industry. Fast Food Nation evolved from a two-part article in Rolling Stone. Schlosser helped adapt his book into a 2006 film directed by Richard Linklater. The film opened November 19, 2006. Chew On This (2006), co-written with Charles Wilson, is an adaptation of the book for younger readers. Fortune called Fast Food Nation the "Best Business Book of the Year" in 2001.