225. Meghan Daum on Our Culture's Catastrophe Hour

Nancy and Sarah speak with Meghan Daum, the podcaster behind The Unspeakable and author of a great new collection of essays, The Catastrophe Hour. They talk about writing, Charlie Kirk, young people casting around for meaning, and a very eye-raising report in the New York Times about a recent blockbuster memoir about MDMA-assisted recovered memories of violent sexual assault. It raises some questions!

Will this be a tipping point for the publishing industry? We discuss integrity, celebrity, Oprah Winfrey, the challenge of selling books, and how to fact-check memories in the first place.

Also discussed:

• Tylenol: Latest tool of the Resistance

• Are Reddit posts the new sad girl diaries?

• That time Meghan observed Turning Point gatherings …

• The return of Alex P. Keaton!

• Books usually don’t have fact-checkers

• Sarah’s hard lessons when editing personal essays

• Incoherence, the theme of our time

• Fabulists in the memoir genre like moths to a flame

• Toot’n Totum!

• “Nancy is Marie Antoinette.”

• The 90s are back, and if you invite us to your party, we will totally stand around the kitchen smoking clove cigarettes

• “Monchhichi, monchhichi, oh so soft and cuddly”

• The truth vs. my truth

• How is Meghan’s new book like a handgun?

• Paul Newman used French eye drops?

• NYT reader comments FTW

Plus, the John Brown Gun Club, a tragic story of literary shame, more Robert Reford love, and much more!

Good title, nice cover, buy the book!