author
Thomas Whiteside
1918–1997
Best known for long, deeply reported pieces in The New Yorker, this British-born American journalist turned complex subjects like media, industry, and chemical hazards into gripping narrative nonfiction. His work helped bring wider public attention to the dangers of Agent Orange and other environmental risks.
1 Audiobook
The Tunnel Under the Channel
by Thomas Whiteside
About the author
Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1918, he lived in Toronto before moving to the United States in 1940 and studying at the University of Chicago. During World War II, he worked for the Office of War Propaganda, then went on to write for Newsweek, The New Republic, and most notably The New Yorker.
Over more than four decades at The New Yorker, he built a reputation for patient, investigative reporting on subjects that ranged from mass communications and cable television to the cigarette industry, chemical weapons, and consumer issues. His papers, preserved at Columbia University, reflect the breadth of his reporting and book work.
He died in 1997 in West Cornwall, Connecticut. Readers who come to his work now often find the same thing his original audience did: clear explanations, strong storytelling, and a willingness to stay with difficult subjects until the larger human stakes come into view.