Selected Nonfiction

The New York Times Book Review: They’re Not Lost in the Woods, They’re Thriving

I have an essay in Losers: Dispatches from the Other Side of the Scoreboard (Penguin 2020). The Wall Street Journal writes: “No anthology on losing would be complete without Boston, my adopted city. It used to be as adorable as a lost puppy—all rusted overpasses and broken hearts. Now it is title-town: endless winners’ parades and gleaming towers. Samuel Graham-Felsen, who once sold peanuts at Fenway Park, has the grace to recognize that the city of his childhood was united by its collective torment. He still roots for the Celtics, Sox and Pats, but, after so much winning, he admits: “Each year, I find myself cheering with less and less fervor.” He misses the old Boston, with its cursed and long-suffering fans. He misses the tribal oneness and deeper feelings that came with losing.”

The New York Times Magazine: Letter of Recommendation: The Pull-Up

Slate: The Code of Streetball

LitHub: On Freaks and Geeks

Medium: On Humiliation

Jewish Book Council: Writing Jewishly

Jewish Book Council: How My Grandfather Influenced My Writing Style

Buzzfeed Long Reads: Remade in Taiwan: Manny Ramirez’s Season Abroad

The Nation: Hard Times at Occupy Boston

The Nation: How Cyber-Pragmatism Brought Down Mubarak

The Washington Post: Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?

The Nation: The New Face of the Campus Left (Cover Story)