"It's so painful to me to feel as though the very notion of objective truth or that journalism could be a vehicle for expressing a kind of objective truth is under assault today." Patrick Radden Keefe is one of the best longform journalists working today, and we'd follow his dogged reporting anywhere, from bestselling books like Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, to his work as a staff writer at The New Yorker, some of which is collected in his latest book, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. Patrick joins us on the show to talk about the art of the write-around and why access is overrated, how one story can lead to the next (or not), writing about morally complicated people (and the stories they tell themselves), the importance of media literacy and getting the facts right, his literary influences and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end the episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.

Featured Books:

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesday and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this show is available here.