'Like cracking a safe - when you're in, you're in'
“Writinga nonfiction story is like cracking a safe. It seems impossible at thebeginning, but once you're in, you're in.” – Rich Cohen
Born in Lake Forest, IL, on thisdate in 1968 Cohen is a contributing editor at both Vanity Fair and RollingStone magazines, and co-creator with Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger andTerence Winter of the HBO series Vinyl. His works have been New York Timesbestsellers, New York Times Notable Books, and collected in the Best American Essaysseries.
Sometimes called one of the greatest“cultural and social” historians of the late 20th and early 21stcenturies, Cohen has won numerous awards – and some criticism – for hisworks. But regardless of how hiswritings are received, they always generate a lot of commentary, whether aboutpeople portrayed or the times in which they are set.
His most recent book is 2023’s Whenthe Game was War: the NBA's Greatest Season about the 1987 rivalry betweenNBA greats Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan. Just 5 years later Johnson, Bird and Jordanwould play as teammates on the Olympic “Dream Team.”
Sports figures and entertainmentstars are often his subjects. “I have long believed thatcelebrity, the way we worship and package and sell our pop stars, is whatfilled the need for gods that was once filled by the pictures in stained glass.”
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