Margaret L. Knox and Dan Baum have been working together as freelance journalists since 1987. They have written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Wired, Smithsonian, and many other national magazines. Together, they have produced two non-fiction books: "Smoke and Mirrors -- The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure" (Little, Brown & Co. 1996) and "Citizen Coors -- An American Dynasty" (Morrow 2000). They live in Boulder, Colorado, with their daughter Rosa, seen here at age fourteen.

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Dan and Margaret are now working on a book about New Orleans that will intertwine the life stories of eight New Orleanians to tell the modern history of the city, up through Hurricane Katrina. It will be published by Spiegel & Grau, a new imprint of Random House, around Mardi Gras 2009. Dan and Margaret spent four months in New Orleans in the spring of 2007 researching the book. During that time, Dan wrote a daily online column about life in post-Katrina New Orleans for the New Yorker magazine's website. (see link above). In August 2004, Dan and Margaret began working exclusively for the New Yorker, with Dan's byline appearing as "staff writer." Margaret and Dan's work usually appears under Dan's byline. Non-fiction frequently calls for a strong individual voice, and occasionally the use of the first person, so double bylines often aren't practical. Dan most often does the legwork of reporting the story -- the travel and the phone calls -- though well directed by Margaret. Dan then writes the first draft, at which point Margaret takes over, and the piece goes back and forth many times before completion. Simply put, when there's a piece to write, Dan ropes it and Margaret skins it.


To read about our books, or to read our articles, please click the links to the left.