Tony Horwitz (1958 – May 27, 2019) discusses his most recent book, “Spying on the South” with host Richard Wolinsky. Recorded May 17, 2019.
The author of several books that combine scholarship, history and travel, Tony Horwitz was a one of a kind author. In “Confederates in the Attic,” he looked at Civil War re-enactors in the Deep South. In “Blue Latitudes,” he followed the path of explorer James Cook, visiting islands in the Pacific Ocean. And in “Spying on the South,” now his final book, he follows the path of the young Frederick Law Olmstead, later to design Central Park, as he went down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers all the way to the Mexican border, seeing how a century and a half has changed the landscape and the people.
Ten days after this interview was conducted, Tony Horwitz died of a heart attack in Washington D.C., in the middle of his book tour.