Eric Schlosser

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Eric Schlosser

Born	Eric Schlosser August 17, 1959 (1959-08-17) (age 48) New York City
Occupation	Non-fiction writer, Journalist
Nationality	American
Writing period	1995— present
Notable work(s)	Fast Food Nation (2000) Reefer Madness (2003)
Spouse(s)	Shauna Redford

Eric Schlosser (born August 17, 1959) is an award-winning American journalist and author known for investigative or muckraking journalism. A number of critics have compared his work to the books and essays of Upton Sinclair [1].

1 Personal history
2 Work
3 Films
4 Food industry's reaction to Schlosser's work
5 References
6 See Also
7 External links

[edit] Personal history

Schlosser was born in Manhattan, New York; he spent his childhood there and in Los Angeles, California. His father, Herbert Schlosser, a former Wall Street lawyer who turned to broadcasting later in his career, eventually became the President of NBC in 1974. Schlosser studied American History at Princeton University and earned a graduate degree in British Imperial History from Oxford.

Schlosser lives in California, and is working on a book about the prison system. He is married to Shauna Redford, daughter of Robert Redford, and has two children.

[edit] Work

[edit] Drama

As an aspiring playwright, Schlosser wrote the play Americans in 1985. It deals with the theme of American imperialism at the beginning of the 20th century, and features Leon Czolgosz, William McKinley's assassin, who shoots the President in anger over U.S. occupation of the Philippines. Americans was produced in 2003, but is not available in the United States. We the People, another play drawing on American history—in this case, the events surrounding the writing of the United States Constitution—followed in 2007.[2]

[edit] Journalism

Schlosser started his career as a journalist with the The Atlantic Monthly in Boston, Massachusetts. He quickly gained recognition for his investigative pieces, earning two awards within his two years of joining the staff; he won the National Magazine Award for reporting for his two-part series “Reefer Madness” and “Marijuana and the Law” (Atlantic Monthly, August and September, 1994), and he won the Sidney Hillman Foundation award for his article, “In the Strawberry Fields” (Atlantic Monthly, November 19,1995). In addition to the Atlantic Monthly, Schlosser's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Nation and The New Yorker.

[edit] Books

Schlosser is known for his bestselling book, Fast Food Nation, an exposé on the unsanitary and discriminatory practices of the fast food industry. Fast Food Nation evolved from a two-part article in Rolling Stone. Schlosser helped adapt his book into a 2006 film directed by Richard Linklater. The film based opened November 19, 2006. Schlosser is credited as co-screenwriter and executive producer.

He has also written the 2003 book Reefer Madness.

He is currently at work on a book about the American prison system.

[edit] Films

Schlosser appeared in an interview for the DVD of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, having a one-on-one discussion with the filmmaker about the fast-food industry. He declined to appear in the film itself and rarely makes appearances in public.^{[citation needed]}

Schlosser also served as an executive producer on the 2007 film There Will Be Blood.

[edit] Food industry's reaction to Schlosser's work

In May 2006, Schlosser and his co-author Charles Wilson released a children's book entitled "Chew On This." The book, along with increasing publicity for the Hollywood movie based on Fast Food Nation, resulted in 18 food industry associations launching the www.bestfoodnation.com website as part of a major public relations campaign. The site presents statements about health and labor practices in the American beef, pork, dairy, potato and other industries. One page includes two press releases accusing Schlosser of publishing misinformation.^[1]