Beth Macy is an author and former reporter at The Roanoke Times. Her latest book is Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America.

“I learned how to interview by delivering papers. I didn’t know it was interviewing, but I would stop and talk to old people who were bored and lonely and have great conversations. I think I learned how to talk to people by delivering the papers. And there’s a certain thing you have to do when you have to collect the money and learn how to negotiate with people when you’re 11. That’s some reporting skills too.”

Thanks to MailChimp, School of Art Institute of Chicago, Skagen, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.@papergirlmacy

[1:15] Headlong: Surviving Y2K

[1:50] Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America (Little, Brown and Company • 2018)

[2:00] Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local - and Helped Save an American Town (Little, Brown and Company • 2015)

[2:05] Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South (Little, Brown and Company • 2016)

[3:50] Longform newsletter

[22:20] Macy on Nieman Foundation

[54:00] "After the Shouting" (Roanoke Times • Jun 2014)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices