The Dick Gibson Show

Book excerpt: A radio host’s rise is the fodder for this “funny, melancholy, frightening . . . absolutely American” National Book Award finalist (The New York Times Book Review). Since childhood, Dick Gibson has longed for a successful radio career to make him a household name. Seeking to hone his craft, Dick travels from stations in Nebraska and New Jersey to the Armed Forces Radio in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War, interviewing crooks, con artists, and hypnotists along the way. His show ignites the imaginations of all who listen to it—until one fateful night when a studio guest’s irresistible influence on Dick and all those listening to him will change their lives forever. Spirited and compelling, The Dick Gibson Show is a laugh-out-loud journey through the world of talk radio and a compulsively readable account of one man’s descent into the dark echo chamber of American media. This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.