In this first episode of three, Russ talks with award-winning essayist and best-selling author William Deresiewicz about a varying number of topics, including friendship, mentorship, and learning from those who are different from you. 

Deresiewicz has published more than 280 essays and reviews, won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle’s Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, as well as a Sydney Award. He is a three-time National Magazine Award nominee, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The American Scholar, and many other publications. These works have been translated into 18 languages and anthologized in more than 30 college and scholastic readers. 

Show Notes/References: 

• A Jane Austen Education 
• Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life 
• The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech
• Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson
• The Death of Friendship 
• The End of Solitude
• Solitude and Leadership
• Emma
• Mansfield Park
• The Lost Art of Friendship