author
Thomas Whiteside
1918–1997
A veteran investigative journalist for The New Yorker, he spent decades turning complex subjects—from advertising and television to chemicals and war—into gripping nonfiction. His reporting on Agent Orange helped bring wider public attention to the issue and earned him a MacArthur Fellowship.
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 studied at the University of Chicago. During World War II, he worked for the Office of War Propaganda, compiling reports on Axis propaganda, before building a career in journalism.
His work appeared in Newsweek, The New Republic, and especially The New Yorker, where he wrote for more than 45 years. He became known for deeply reported pieces on business, media, crime, espionage, and public affairs, and he also wrote books on subjects including the Channel Tunnel, computers, and environmental dangers.
One of the defining threads of his career was his investigation of Agent Orange and related chemicals, reporting that helped drive public scrutiny and official action. In 1986, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. He died in Connecticut in 1997.