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Nicholson Baker

Nicholson Baker (born January 7, 1957) is an American novelist and essayist distinguished by his prose that privileges granular depictions of ordinary experiences in fiction and probing examinations of archival destruction and wartime decisions in non-fiction.^[1]^[2] Baker's breakthrough novel, The Mezzanine (1988), unfolds during an office worker's escalator ride, delving into digressions on shoelaces, straws, and consumer culture to capture the texture of daily life.^[3] His subsequent Vox (1992) centers on an extended erotic phone call, highlighting his interest in intimate verbal exchanges, while The Fermata (1994) explores a man's ability to halt time for voyeuristic purposes, drawing scrutiny for its fantastical elements.^[3] In non-fiction, Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (2001) exposed the routine pulping of historical newspapers under the guise of space-saving microfilm preservation, securing the National Book Critics Circle Award for its revelations on cultural loss.^[4] Baker's Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization (2008), compiled from diaries, speeches, and news clippings, questions the inevitability and moral clarity of Allied entry into the war through a mosaic of pacifist voices and early aggressions, prompting accusations of revisionism for emphasizing anti-war sentiments while downplaying broader geopolitical threats.^[5]^[6]^[7] More recently, Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act (2020) recounts Baker's FOIA-driven investigation into "Project Baseless," a 1950s U.S. program for biological weapons, amid Korean War-era accusations of their deployment, underscoring bureaucratic opacity in military history.^[8]^[9]

Early Life and Education

Family and Childhood

Nicholson Baker was born on January 7, 1957, and spent much of his early childhood in the New York area before his family relocated to Rochester, New York, in 1960 when he was two and a half years old, following his father's job opportunity there.^[10] His parents, Douglas and Ann (née Nicholson) Baker, met as art students at Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village.^[11] Douglas Baker, after studying design, pursued a career in graphic design and advertising in Rochester, specializing in trademarks and logotypes.^[11] ^[10] Ann Baker, raised in a Quaker tradition that employed terms like "thee," contributed to a household where poetry readings occurred, including works by Shelley, though Baker later described the environment as not aggressively literary or arty.^[12] The family's background reflected a balance between artistic inclinations and commercial pursuits, with no evident pressure on Baker to engage deeply with reading during his youth.^[11] As a young child, he immersed himself in science fiction, an interest that developed independently.^[12] Baker's elementary school years included incidents of bullying, after which he transferred to an experimental high school that provided bus tokens for self-directed pursuits; he often remained at home, watching sitcoms and practicing the bassoon.^[12] Early fascinations included everyday objects like pencil sharpeners at school and his mother's Sears typewriter, which he began using in seventh grade, alongside music listened to through headphones in the dark.^[13] These experiences foreshadowed his later attentiveness to minutiae in writing, though his initial ambitions leaned toward music composition.^[13]

Academic Background

Nicholson Baker briefly attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, in 1975, where he studied bassoon performance.^[14] ^[15] He subsequently transferred to Haverford College in Pennsylvania, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with coursework centered on literature and philosophy.^[16] ^[17] Baker did not pursue graduate studies, transitioning instead to writing and related pursuits in the early 1980s.^[13]

Literary Career

Early Publications

Nicholson Baker's debut novel, The Mezzanine, was published in 1988 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.^[18] The narrative unfolds over a single escalator ride in an office building, during which the protagonist engages in extended reflections on everyday objects and rituals, including milk cartons, shoelaces, and workplace dynamics.^[19] This structure highlights Baker's early stylistic approach of compressing vast digressions into brief temporal spans, employing footnotes and conversational prose to defamiliarize the mundane.^[19] His second novel, Room Temperature, appeared in 1990 from Grove Weidenfeld.^[20] Set during the twenty minutes a father spends feeding his infant daughter a bottle, the book interweaves memories of childhood—such as peanut butter jars and model airplanes—with observations of household items and musings on physics and parenting.^[21] Like The Mezzanine, it exemplifies Baker's focus on intimate, propulsive details of domestic life, blending tenderness with intellectual playfulness.^[21] These early works established Baker's signature method of elevating ordinary experiences through meticulous, associative internal monologues, garnering attention for their inventive form and avoidance of conventional plot progression.^[2]

Established Works and Style

Nicholson Baker's established works, beginning with his debut novel The Mezzanine published in 1988, exemplify a distinctive literary style centered on the intensive scrutiny of mundane activities and objects through stream-of-consciousness narration. In The Mezzanine, the entire narrative unfolds during a brief escalator ride as the protagonist reflects on trivial elements of office life, such as shoelaces snapping and the mechanics of hand dryers, augmented by extensive footnotes that digress into cultural and historical trivia about everyday items.^[13]^[11] This technique, which de-emphasizes conventional plot progression in favor of associative thought patterns, was innovative for its time and rejected by multiple publishers before acceptance.^[13] Subsequent early novels reinforced this approach, as seen in Room Temperature (1990), where Baker compresses the action to twenty minutes of a father feeding his infant daughter, expanding into filigreed descriptions of household artifacts like peanut-butter jars and model airplanes.^[11] Similarly, Vox (1992) employs dialogue-driven exploration of erotic fantasies during a phone call, maintaining the author's hallmark focus on verbal minutiae and sensory precision through onomatopoeic phrasing such as "clonk" and "kashoonk" to evoke tactile experiences.^[13] Baker's prose is marked by meticulous phrasemaking, an intimate first-person tone, and a superhuman capacity for observation, often capturing reflexive internal monologues that prioritize the flux of consciousness over external action.^[13] Later established fiction like A Box of Matches (2003) sustains this style by chronicling a man's daily ritual of lighting fires, delving into nostalgic reflections on domestic routines and personal artifacts such as hole-ridden socks and belly-button lint.^[11] Across these works, Baker constructs elaborate intellectual edifices atop minimal narrative pretexts, blending erudition with humor to illuminate the overlooked intricacies of ordinary moments.^[22] This method reflects a deliberate eschewal of linear storytelling, instead privileging the sequential changes of mind and detailed environmental interactions that define human perception.^[13]

Major Works

Fiction

Nicholson Baker's fiction is characterized by meticulous attention to the minutiae of everyday life, extended internal monologues, and a stylistic emphasis on descriptive detail over conventional narrative progression. His novels often unfold in constrained temporal or spatial frames, such as a single escalator ride or a telephone conversation, allowing for digressive explorations of ordinary objects, sensations, and thoughts. Three of his works—Vox (1992), The Fermata (1994), and House of Holes (2011)—incorporate explicit erotic elements, which have drawn both acclaim for their literary inventiveness and criticism for perceived objectification.^[13]^[23] His debut novel, The Mezzanine (1988), centers on protagonist Howie, a mid-level office worker whose thoughts during a brief escalator ascent at the end of lunch encompass shoelaces snapping, the mechanics of staplers, and the cultural significance of fast-food packaging. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, the book received praise for its humorous depiction of the human mind's propensity to amplify trivial observations into profound reflections, with one review describing it as "a very funny book about the human mind, in particular that part of the mind that processes the triviality of daily events."^[24] Critics noted its innovative stream-of-consciousness technique, likening it to a modernist exercise in perceptual acuity amid corporate drudgery.^[25] Room Temperature (1990) similarly confines its action to a father, Mike, rocking his infant daughter in a single room while contemplating childhood memories, the physics of burping, and domestic epiphanies. The novel, published by Grove Weidenfeld, extends Baker's interest in parental introspection and sensory immersion, earning recognition for its tender yet analytical prose that elevates routine parenting to philosophical inquiry.^[2] In Vox (1992), Baker shifts to erotic territory with a novella-length dialogue between strangers Jim and Abby, who engage in a transcontinental phone sex conversation detailing fantasies inspired by literature and personal history. Released by Random House, it became a New York Times bestseller, appreciated for its plausible intimacy and verbal dexterity despite its unconventional form devoid of physical action.^[26] Some reviewers highlighted its success in sustaining erotic tension through conversation alone, though others questioned its depth beyond titillation.^[27] The Fermata (1994), also from Random House, features Arno Strine, a man capable of halting time, whom he exploits to undress and manipulate unaware women in voyeuristic scenarios framed as creative writing sessions. The novel provoked backlash, with critics labeling its protagonist a "repulsive" embodiment of sexual harassment fantasies akin to real-world allegations against public figures.^[28] Baker countered interpretations of misogyny, insisting the work was not prescriptive but exploratory of male desire and narrative invention.^[29] Its reception underscored divisions over Baker's boundary-pushing erotica, with supporters valuing the metafictional layers involving Strine's "time manuscripts."^[30] Later fiction includes The Everlasting Story of Nory (1998), a Random House publication narrated from the perspective of nine-year-old Eleanor "Nory" Winslow during her English schooling, blending childlike whimsy with observations on language acquisition and playground dynamics. A Box of Matches (2003), from Vintage, follows middle-aged Emmett renewing daily routines like early-morning matches to light fires, reflecting on family and obsolescence. House of Holes (2011), published by Simon & Schuster, constructs a surreal pornographic fantasy realm where body parts detach for consensual pleasures, drawing mixed responses for its exuberant absurdity and explicitness, which one interviewer called "the most fun" Baker had writing.^[31] These works reinforce Baker's oeuvre's focus on perceptual novelty, though erotic novels faced disproportionate scrutiny compared to his observational ones.^[2]

Non-fiction

Baker's non-fiction oeuvre examines the intersections of technology, history, and personal narrative, often challenging institutional practices and orthodox historical accounts through meticulous research and vignette-style assembly. His works privilege primary sources such as diaries, letters, and archival records over synthesized narratives, reflecting a commitment to granular detail over broad interpretive frameworks.^[3] U and I: A True Story (1991) chronicles Baker's self-described "fanatical" preoccupation with author John Updike, blending memoir with literary criticism to dissect the psychology of literary admiration without direct quotations from Updike's works, as Baker admits to having read them imperfectly from memory. The book employs a confessional tone to explore influences on Baker's own writing, attributing stylistic affinities to Updike while acknowledging factual inaccuracies in his recollections, which he defends as integral to the subjective experience of reading.^[32]^[33] Blue Sky Dream: A True-Blue Grammar of Hope (1996) intertwines Baker's family history with the decline of the Boeing company, focusing on his father's career as an engineer amid the shift from military to commercial aviation contracts in the post-Vietnam era. Drawing on interviews and corporate documents, Baker critiques the erosion of American manufacturing optimism, portraying Boeing's pivot to defense work as emblematic of broader economic disillusionment, with specific references to layoffs exceeding 20,000 employees by the mid-1990s.^[34] In Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (2001), Baker investigates the widespread destruction of newspapers and books by libraries favoring microfilm preservation, estimating that millions of volumes were pulped between the 1950s and 1990s under the pretext of space savings and the "double fold" test, which deemed paper brittle after two folds under 3,000 grams of pressure. He documents visits to facilities like the British Library, where he observed shredding machines processing tons of archives daily, and accuses librarians of collusion with microfilm vendors, citing internal memos from the 1980s revealing falsified durability claims for microfilm, which degrades via "silver mirroring" after 20-30 years. Baker personally purchased 20 tons of the Boston Globe archives for $25,000 to prevent their disposal, highlighting what he terms a "secret history" of lost cultural heritage driven by budgetary expediency rather than empirical necessity. The book prompted debates on preservation ethics, with critics acknowledging exposed waste but disputing Baker's dismissal of digital alternatives as equally impermanent.^[35]^[36]^[37] Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization (2008) assembles over 500 short excerpts from diaries, speeches, and news reports spanning 1920 to late 1941, portraying the war's prelude through pacifist lenses, including Gandhi's nonviolence advocacy and Quaker relief efforts, while questioning Allied escalations like Britain's area bombing policy, which Churchill endorsed on February 14, 1942, targeting German civilians. Baker avoids explicit argumentation, letting vignettes—such as Roosevelt's rejection of Jewish refugee ships in 1939 or Lindbergh's isolationist speeches—imply contingencies in decision-making, challenging the postwar consensus that unconditional war was inevitable against Axis aggression. Reception divided along ideological lines: proponents praised its anti-militarist humanism, citing 300+ primary sources for evoking moral ambiguities in total war, while detractors, including historians like Richard Evans, faulted its selective pacifist emphasis for understating Nazi atrocities, such as the 1938 Kristallnacht pogroms detailed in the text itself.^[38]^[39]^[40] Later works include Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids (2016), a first-person account of Baker's experiences as a substitute teacher in Maine public schools over several months, cataloging classroom disruptions and administrative inefficiencies with observations of over 1,000 students across 20+ days, critiquing standardized testing's dominance without quantitative analysis. Baseless: A More or Less Secret History of the Origins of the War on Terror (2021) traces post-9/11 policies to World War II precedents, using declassified documents to link drone surveillance to earlier reconnaissance tech and arguing that fear-driven expansions of executive power, such as the 1942 internment of Japanese Americans affecting 120,000 people, prefigured modern indefinite detentions.^[34]^[3]

Essays and Journalism

Nicholson Baker's essays, often published in magazines such as The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine, emphasize detailed observation of everyday phenomena and intellectual curiosities, blending personal reflection with broader cultural critique.^[41]^[42] His essayistic style prioritizes precise description over narrative propulsion, mirroring techniques in his fiction.^[43] Baker compiled his first major essay collection, The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber, in 1996, drawing from pieces originally appearing in The New Yorker and other outlets.^[44] The book includes essays on topics ranging from library catalogs to the mechanics of phone sex, with standout works like "Lumber," a lengthy examination of woodworking history and tools that showcases his capacity for exhaustive research into mundane subjects.^[45] These essays transform ordinary objects into subjects of philosophical inquiry, often revealing overlooked efficiencies or absurdities in modern life.^[46] In 2012, Baker released The Way the World Works: Essays, his first collection since 1996, spanning writings from the prior 15 years across five thematic sections.^[47]^[48] Topics include Wikipedia's collaborative editing process, the environmental impact of paper mills, video game design, and gondola transportation systems, alongside more personal essays on intimacy and political controversies.^[49] Critics noted the collection's range, from technological optimism to skepticism toward institutional narratives, reflecting Baker's interest in how small-scale innovations intersect with larger societal forces.^[50] Baker's journalism extends his essay form into investigative territory, as seen in pieces like the 2013 Harper's article "Wrong Answer," which traces the history of probability theory through Renaissance gambler Girolamo Cardano's Ars Magna.^[42] His contributions to New York Magazine and other periodicals often probe historical or contemporary events with a pacifist lens, questioning official accounts of conflicts and technologies.^[51] These works maintain empirical rigor, favoring primary documents and eyewitness reports over secondary interpretations.^[41]

Intellectual Views

Pacifism and War Skepticism

Nicholson Baker's pacifist convictions emerged prominently through his research into the origins of World War II, culminating in his 2008 book Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization. The work consists of chronological vignettes drawn from diaries, letters, and contemporary accounts spanning 1895 to December 31, 1941, highlighting efforts by figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bertrand Russell, and American pacifists to avert escalation through negotiation and nonviolence, while portraying leaders like Winston Churchill as eager provocateurs of total war.^[52] Baker explicitly endorses the afterword's conclusion that these resisters, though ultimately sidelined, "were right" in opposing industrialized slaughter, challenging the prevailing narrative of World War II as an unequivocally "good war" justified by its outcomes.^[53] In a 2011 essay titled "Why I'm a Pacifist" published in Harper's Magazine, Baker elaborated on his stance, attributing personal influence to his maternal grandfather, a World War II veteran who returned disillusioned and embraced pacifism, emphasizing the moral hazard of dispatching young soldiers into mechanized killing.^[54] He critiqued the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, as unnecessary escalations that set precedents for later conflicts, arguing that the "myth of the Good War" perpetuates a cycle where each new adversary is analogized to Hitler to garner support for intervention.^[55] Baker maintained that pacifism demands consistent objection to violence, regardless of context, positing that alternatives like armistices or evacuations could have mitigated civilian devastation without endorsing Axis aggression.^[56] Baker extended his war skepticism to contemporary U.S. involvements, opposing the 2003 Iraq invasion as an unjustifiable preemptive strike lacking evidence of weapons of mass destruction or imminent threat, akin to flawed World War II rationales.^[56] In April 2011, he participated in a Lafayette Park demonstration against ongoing Afghan operations, decrying the prolongation of counterinsurgency tactics that echoed historical escalations he documented.^[57] His views drew criticism for perceived naivety toward totalitarian regimes, with detractors arguing that Human Smoke underemphasizes Nazi atrocities by focusing on Allied flaws, though Baker countered that selective vignettes aimed to humanize anti-war impulses without excusing aggression.^[58]

Critiques of Institutions and Narratives

Nicholson Baker has directed pointed critiques at institutional practices and dominant historical narratives, often through investigative non-fiction that challenges accepted orthodoxies. In Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (2001), Baker accused libraries and preservation organizations of systematically destroying vast quantities of newspapers and books under the pretext of conserving space and combating a supposed "brittle book crisis." He argued that the widespread adoption of microfilming, promoted by institutions like the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, resulted in the guillotining of original print materials, rendering irreplaceable cultural artifacts lost forever despite claims of digital equivalence. Baker contended that the crisis narrative was exaggerated through flawed testing methods, such as the double-fold endurance test, which he described as pseudoscientific justification for discarding originals in favor of inferior reproductions. Baker's examination extended to what he perceived as institutional propaganda and conflicts of interest, including funding ties between preservation advocates and microfilm vendors, which incentivized destruction over retention. He highlighted specific losses, such as the British Library's disposal of 19th-century newspapers after microfilming, estimating millions of pages irretrievably gone.^[59] Critics within librarianship dismissed his account as overstated, but Baker maintained that blind trust in expert consensus had enabled a "vandalism" driven by bureaucratic efficiency over empirical fidelity to source materials.^[60] In Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization (2008), Baker dismantled prevailing narratives glorifying Allied entry into World War II, compiling vignettes from diaries, letters, and contemporary reports to portray leaders like Winston Churchill as escalatory warmongers rather than unequivocal heroes. Drawing on pacifist sources such as Gandhi's writings and Quaker testimonies, he questioned the causal chain from appeasement to total war, suggesting alternatives like negotiation might have averted atomic bombings and civilian devastation. Baker's mosaic approach avoided grand synthesis, instead privileging primary voices to expose propaganda in wartime media and historiography that retroactively sanctified bombing campaigns responsible for over 600,000 civilian deaths by 1945.^[40] Historians critiqued the work as selective and ahistorical, yet Baker aimed to reveal how institutional memory—shaped by victors' accounts—obscures moral complexities and the war's initiation by mutual aggressions. Baker's 2020 book Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act targeted government opacity, chronicling his FOIA requests into U.S. biological weapons programs during the Korean War era. He alleged that agencies like the CIA and military withheld documents on experiments potentially linking to accusations of U.S. germ warfare, including Operation Paperclip's recruitment of Nazi scientists for bioweapons research post-1945.^[61] Baker documented over 500 FOIA filings yielding redacted or delayed responses, illustrating systemic subversion of transparency laws enacted in 1966 and strengthened in 1974. He connected this to broader narratives of exceptionalism, arguing that official denials—echoed in declassified partial releases—perpetuate unexamined state actions, such as Fort Detrick's anthrax and plague developments from 1943 onward.^[9] While unable to conclusively prove battlefield use, Baker's pursuit underscored institutional incentives for narrative control, where secrecy shields potential atrocities amid Cold War escalations.^[62]

Controversies and Criticisms

Double Fold Dispute

In 2001, Nicholson Baker published Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, a polemical critique of archival practices in major research libraries and institutions such as the Library of Congress and the British Library.^[63] Baker argued that these entities had systematically destroyed vast collections of original newspapers and books—estimated in the millions of volumes—under the justification of preserving content via microfilm, which he contended was unreliable, prone to degradation from "vinegar syndrome" (chemical breakdown causing brittleness and odors), and inferior for scholarly use due to poor readability and loss of tactile details like paper texture or annotations.^[64] ^[35] He traced this trend to post-World War II initiatives, including the Association of Research Libraries' cooperative microfilming projects starting in the 1950s, which prioritized space savings and cost over long-term fidelity, often discarding originals after filming without rigorous quality checks.^[65] Baker further challenged the "brittle book" narrative, asserting that claims of widespread acidic deterioration were overstated; tests showed many papers endured repeated folding (the "double fold test," requiring 400 folds for viability) far beyond institutional thresholds, which he viewed as arbitrary metrics favoring disposal.^[64] Baker's investigation uncovered specific instances of destruction, such as the British Newspaper Library's shredding of pre-1950 newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Library of Congress's de-accessioning of bound volumes despite internal doubts about microfilm's permanence.^[35] To demonstrate commitment, Baker liquidated part of his retirement savings to purchase and preserve approximately 20 tons of discarded newspapers from the British Library, storing them privately rather than allowing institutional pulping.^[35] He positioned the book as advocacy rather than neutral reporting, explicitly stating it aimed to provoke reevaluation of preservation policies amid emerging digital alternatives, which he warned suffered from format obsolescence and incomplete scanning (e.g., missing folds or stains that reveal printing history).^[66] The book elicited sharp backlash from the library and archival professions, who accused Baker of sensationalism, selective evidence, and ignorance of practical constraints like escalating storage costs—reaching millions annually for climate-controlled facilities—and fire risks from aging paper.^[60] Archivist Richard J. Cox's 2002 response, Vandals in the Stacks?, countered that while some errors occurred in early microfilming, modern standards (e.g., ISO-compliant film) and shared digital repositories mitigated losses, and total destruction was rare; Cox argued Baker conflated isolated abuses with systemic policy, potentially undermining legitimate reform efforts.^[67] The Association of Research Libraries issued guidance for members to rebut claims, emphasizing that retention decisions balanced user needs with fiscal realities, and that Baker overlooked successful preservation models like the Northeast Document Conservation Center's surveys showing only 10-20% of collections truly brittle by the 1990s.^[65] Despite criticism, Double Fold won the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, highlighting its impact on public discourse.^[63] Retrospective assessments note partial vindication for Baker: microfilm degradation has proven widespread, with vinegar syndrome affecting up to 30% of stored reels in some collections, and digital surrogates often fail to capture nuances essential for historians, such as ink migration or binding artifacts.^[64] However, proponents of reform acknowledge that space pressures persist, though policies have shifted toward hybrid retention—keeping select originals in off-site facilities—partly due to the controversy, as evidenced by updated guidelines from the American Library Association post-2001.^[65] Baker's work exposed tensions between technological optimism and empirical durability, with archival self-interest potentially biasing defenses of past practices, though empirical data on paper longevity (e.g., pH-neutral newsprint lasting centuries under controlled conditions) supports skepticism of blanket disposals.^[68]

Human Smoke Backlash

Human Smoke, published on March 18, 2008, by Simon & Schuster, elicited sharp backlash from historians and critics who accused Nicholson Baker of presenting a distorted, pacifist narrative of World War II's origins through selective, decontextualized vignettes drawn from diaries, speeches, and news reports spanning 1920 to 1941.^[69] Reviewers contended that the book's mosaic style—comprising over 800 short entries without authorial analysis until a concluding afterword advocating pacifism—created a false equivalence between Allied leaders and Axis aggressors, downplaying Nazi atrocities while emphasizing British and American provocations, such as early civilian bombings and Churchill's alleged warmongering.^[70] This approach, critics argued, obscured the war's moral necessity against fascism, portraying Winston Churchill as a "devious, bullying, embittered, racist warmonger" thrilled by firebombing, thereby caricaturing historical figures to support an anti-war thesis.^[6] Prominent UK historians, including Richard Overy and Antony Beevor, denounced the book as "mendacious" and "fraudulent" in early May 2008, charging Baker with factual distortions and cherry-picking sources to imply Britain provoked Hitler, akin to revisionist arguments influenced by contemporary events like the Iraq War.^[71] James B. Stewart, in a Bloomberg review on April 17, 2008, labeled it "sickening twaddle" and a "huge mistake," criticizing its "phony objectivity" that strung context-free quotes to advance a simplistic mantra of "violence begets violence," ignoring the practical imperatives of confronting Axis expansionism.^[69] Such critiques highlighted the afterword's dedication to pacifists who opposed the war, viewing it as an endorsement of appeasement that risked misleading readers on the era's causal realities, where Hitler's invasions and genocidal policies rendered negotiation futile.^[7] Despite defenses praising its use of primary materials to amplify overlooked pacifist voices, the backlash underscored concerns over the book's potential to erode consensus on WWII's justness, with some likening its method to Michael Moore's polemics—effective in provocation but deficient in balanced historical rigor.^[70] Baker maintained the work aimed not as comprehensive history but as a mosaic inviting scrutiny of war's human costs, yet detractors, including those in The Telegraph on May 2, 2008, dismissed its moral outrage at civilian bombings as valid yet ultimately misguided in questioning the conflict's inevitability against totalitarian regimes.^[72] The controversy amplified debates on historical narrative construction, with critics attributing the book's appeal partly to post-9/11 skepticism toward military interventions.^[73]

Other Public Debates

Baker's novel Vox (1992), depicting an extended phone-sex conversation between two strangers, drew significant public scrutiny in 1998 when it was revealed that Monica Lewinsky had purchased and gifted a copy to President Bill Clinton amid their affair, leading to the book's purchase records being subpoenaed by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr as part of the ensuing investigation.^[74]^[75] The association amplified debates over the novel's explicit erotic content, with critics like Charles McGrath of The New York Times later describing it as a "phone-sex novel so steamy" that its cultural footprint extended beyond literary circles into political scandal.^[76] In The Fermata (1994), Baker explores a protagonist's ability to halt time, which he exploits for voyeuristic and masturbatory acts involving unwitting women, prompting accusations of misogyny and unchecked male fantasy from reviewers and readers who viewed it as an "offense against womankind" or a "revenge of the girl-worshiping nerd."^[77] Baker defended the work against such charges, arguing in a 1994 interview that critics misconstrued it as a prescriptive manifesto rather than fictional exploration, though feminist critiques persisted, labeling its themes as indicative of deeper gender imbalances in literary erotica.^[29] Checkpoint (2004), a dialogue between two anti-war acquaintances contemplating the assassination of President George W. Bush, ignited controversy for its provocative premise, with outlets like NPR and The Guardian framing it as a sensationalized critique of Bush-era policies that risked blurring fiction with incitement.^[78]^[79] Critics such as those in The New York Times argued it slandered liberal opposition by associating it with murderous intent, while Baker maintained it satirized rage without endorsing violence; the book's timing amid Iraq War debates fueled accusations of poor taste and rhetorical excess.^[80] Baker's non-fiction Baseless (2020) examines declassified documents on early 20th-century U.S. biological weapons research, positing potential deployment in World War I and germ warfare accusations during the Korean War, but faced criticism for speculative conclusions amid FOIA request frustrations and insufficient evidence, as noted in reviews questioning its "escalating anger over lack of hard evidence."^[62]^[81] Historians debated its revival of long-disputed claims, with The Nation highlighting Baker's pacifist lens as driving an indictment of government secrecy over conclusive proof.^[62]

Personal Life

Family and Relationships

Nicholson Baker married Margaret Brentano in 1985, after meeting her during their college years; the couple first encountered each other in 1978 at Bryn Mawr College.^[82]^[11] They have collaborated professionally, co-authoring The World as It Is: A Cartoon Atlas of Our Universe as Revealed by World War II's Most Acclaimed War Cartoonist, published in 2005, which celebrates the graphic art in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.^[83] Baker has described their marriage as enduring and happy, noting in 2020 that they had been together for more than thirty years while residing in Maine.^[84] The couple has two children, Alice and Elias, born in 1987 and approximately 1994, respectively.^[85]^[11] By the early 2000s, the children were reported as ages 15 and 9, reflecting the family's settled life in South Berwick, Maine, before later moving to a home on the Penobscot River.^[3] Baker and Brentano, who has worked as a reporter and in publishing, raised their family in relative privacy, with Baker occasionally referencing domestic life in interviews but avoiding detailed public disclosure.^[86] Baker was born on January 7, 1957, in New York City to Douglas Baker, an entomologist and marketing executive, and Ann Nicholson Baker, whose Quaker upbringing influenced early family readings of poetry, though the household lacked formal religious practice.^[12]^[1] No public records indicate siblings or other significant familial relationships beyond his immediate nuclear family. The Bakers' personal life has remained largely insulated from the controversies surrounding his provocative fiction, such as Vox (1992) and The Fermata (1994), which explore erotic themes but draw no direct parallels to his own marital dynamics as described in biographical accounts.^[76]

Interests Outside Writing

Baker initially pursued music as a primary interest, training extensively on the bassoon during high school and aspiring to become a composer.^[87] In 1975, he attended the Eastman School of Music before transferring to Haverford College.^[12] Decades later, in 2012, he composed and recorded original protest songs addressing U.S. foreign policy and military actions, including "Whistleblower Song" on Chelsea Manning's leaks to WikiLeaks, "Jeju Island Song" opposing a U.S.-South Korea military base, "When You Intervene" critiquing intervention in Libya, and "Nine Women Gathering Firewood" on civilian deaths in Afghanistan.^[88] These were self-produced using software tutorials, with recordings made in his barn or at his kitchen table, marking his first such compositions beyond incidental tunes for poetry.^[88] In 2019, following the completion of his book Baseless on biological weapons—which left him emotionally depleted—Baker turned to visual art as a therapeutic pursuit, dedicating two hours daily to drawing before sunrise.^[89]^[90] Influenced by his mother's art teaching and his father's career as a graphic designer, he began with still lifes of objects like leaves and glassware, progressed to landscapes of clouds and the Penobscot River (inspired by Maxfield Parrish), and advanced to portraits of family, public figures such as Tracy Chapman and John Lewis, and everyday subjects sourced from Reddit.^[89]^[90] Experimenting with tools including brushes, oil pastels, and sandpaper, Baker described himself as a hobbyist focused on incremental self-improvement rather than professional artistry.^[89]^[90]

Awards and Recognition

Nicholson Baker received the James Madison Freedom of Information Award in 1997 from the Society of Professional Journalists' Northern California chapter, recognizing his advocacy for preserving library materials and public access to information.^[15]^[91] His 2001 nonfiction book Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper earned the National Book Critics Circle Award in the general nonfiction category.^[92]^[93] Baker was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 for his work in general nonfiction.^[94]^[95] He has also received the Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, honoring excellence in prose.^[96]^[97]

Legacy and Influence

Nicholson Baker's literary legacy lies in his innovative use of meticulous detail, footnotes, and everyday minutiae to explore human experience, influencing writers who prioritize stylistic precision over plot-driven narratives. His debut novel The Mezzanine (1988), with its extended footnotes dissecting mundane office life, earned acclaim for elevating the trivial to philosophical heights, as noted in a 2011 Paris Review interview where Baker reflected on his reputation for humor and stylistic enthusiasm after 25 years of writing.^[13] This approach, blending eroticism, technology, and introspection in works like Vox (1992), has been credited with revitalizing interest in erotocomedic fiction and close observational prose, though critics sometimes debate its depth versus surface novelty.^[13] Baker's Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (2001) profoundly shaped debates on archival preservation, exposing libraries' widespread destruction of print materials in favor of microfilm and digital formats, which he argued degraded historical context and usability. The book prompted reevaluations of deaccessioning practices, with scholars later acknowledging its role in highlighting risks to print retention, as revisited in a 2021 analysis emphasizing Baker's warnings against stripping newspapers from their tactile, contextual integrity.^[65] In response, Baker founded the nonprofit American Newspaper Repository in 1999 (incorporated 2001), rescuing over 28,000 bound volumes of U.S. newspapers from disposal by 2003, thereby directly preserving physical artifacts that libraries had discarded.^[98] This activism influenced policy discussions, underscoring tensions between space constraints and cultural stewardship without halting digitization trends.^[65] In pacifism, Baker's Human Smoke (2008), a documentary mosaic of pre-WWII events drawn from primary sources, challenged orthodox narratives of inevitable Allied victory, advocating negotiation over escalation and amplifying voices like Gandhi's. It spurred pacifist discourse by questioning war's moral inevitability, as Baker articulated in a 2011 interview tying his stance to avoiding escalatory violence, though it drew backlash for perceived revisionism.^[56] The work's influence persists in prompting skeptics to scrutinize institutional war histories, aligning with Baker's broader critiques of unchecked authority.^[99] Overall, Baker's oeuvre fosters empirical scrutiny of narratives, from literary form to historical orthodoxy, prioritizing primary evidence over consensus views.^[50]

References

[1]
Baker, Nicholson 1957- | Encyclopedia.com
PERSONAL: Born January 7, 1957, in New York, NY; son of Douglas and Ann (Nicholson) Baker; married Margaret Brentano, 1985; children: Alice, Elias. Education: ...Missing: biography key
[2]
Nicholson Baker - Book Series In Order
Born on the seventh of January 1957, Nicholson Baker is an American essayist and novelist. As his trademark, Baker places more emphasis on careful ...Missing: biography controversies
[3]
Nicholson Baker | Penguin Random House
Nicholson Baker has written seventeen books, including The Mezzanine, Vox, Human Smoke, The Anthologist, and Baseless—also an art book, The World on Sunday ...Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
[4]
Nicholson Baker | Official Publisher Page - Simon & Schuster
Nicholson Baker is the author of nine novels and four works of nonfiction, including Double Fold, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award.Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
[5]
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization
What's it about? A book that explores the political misjudgements and personal biases that gave birth to the terrifying consequences of the Second World War.
[6]
'Smoke' obscures the rightfulness of WWII - USA Today
Jun 28, 2013 · Baker says he wrote Human Smoke to pose two questions: "Was it a 'good war'? Did it help anyone who needed help?" To most readers the ...
[7]
'Smoke' author's version of WWII stirs controversy - Deseret News
Jun 22, 2008 · In a two-page "afterword," Baker dedicates the book to pacifists who risked public scorn and imprisonment by fighting to stave off the war.
[8]
Baseless by Nicholson Baker - Penguin Random House
Free delivery over $20 30-day returnsIn his lucid and unassuming style, Baker assembles what he learns, piece by piece, about Project Baseless, a crash Pentagon program begun in the early fifties ...
[9]
Exhausting Effect Of FOIA Requests Evident In 'Baseless' - NPR
Jul 22, 2020 · Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the ...
[10]
Wrapping Sentences Around Things - Nicholson Baker
May 2, 2014 · Then in 1960 when I was two and a half, my father was offered a job in Rochester, and he began his career as a New York-style graphic designer ...Missing: occupations | Show results with:occupations
[11]
Particular obsessions | Books | The Guardian
Jan 10, 2003 · Born on January 7, 1957 in Rochester, New York, his genealogy was a perfect balance between the literary and the commercial.
[12]
A life in writing: Nicholson Baker - The Guardian
Sep 18, 2009 · Baker was born in 1957 and brought up in Rochester, upstate New York. He says that, despite his parents' poetry readings, it wasn't an ...Missing: biography key
[13]
Nicholson Baker, The Art of Fiction No. 212 - The Paris Review
After some twenty-five years of writing, Baker's reputation is as unusual as his work. He has been praised, widely and enthusiastically, for his style ...Missing: biography controversies
[14]
A Maine Writer: Maine State Library
Biography. Novelist and non-fiction writer Nick Baker was born in Rochester, NY, on on 7 Jan. 1957, attended the Eastman School of Music ...Missing: childhood parents
[15]
Nicholson Baker – EGS – Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical ...
Nicholson Baker (b. 1957) is a celebrated writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a professor of poetry and writing at The European Graduate School / EGS.Missing: key controversies
[16]
Nicholson Baker | The Poetry Foundation
Born in Rochester, New York, novelist Nicholson Baker first studied music, specifically the bassoon. He attended Eastman School of Music in Rochester before ...Missing: biography controversies
[17]
Nicholson Baker | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster UK
Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He is the author of several novels, including The Mezzanine ...
[18]
THE MEZZANINE by BAKER, Nicholson - Hardcover - AbeBooks
In stock $7.50 deliveryTitle: THE MEZZANINE; Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1988), New York; Publication Date: 1988; Binding: Hardcover; Edition: First Edition.
[19]
The Mezzanine | Grove Atlantic
The Mezzanine ; Imprint Grove Paperback ; Page Count 144 ; Publication Date July 13, 2010 ; ISBN-13 978-0-8021-4490-4 ; Dimensions 5.5" x 8.25" ...
[20]
Nicholson BAKER / Room Temperature 1st Edition 1990 | eBay
Author: BAKER, Nicholson. Room Temperature. Title: Room Temperature. Publication: New York: Grove Weidenfeld, (1990). First edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[21]
Room Temperature | Grove Atlantic
Oct 12, 2010 · In Room Temperature, originally published by Grove Press in 1984, Baker takes the reader an even greater distance in the course of twenty minutes.
[22]
Reading in October: Nicholson Baker | The New Yorker
Oct 1, 2009 · Nicholson Baker is famous for building elaborate literary edifices atop the flimsiest excuses for plots.Missing: career | Show results with:career
[23]
Consciousness on the Page: A Primer on the Novels of Nicholson ...
Nov 19, 2010 · The Baker novel is long-form text on the page as well, but it's also long-form text at its core, and on every level in between. Adapting it into ...Missing: style analysis
[24]
Howie and the Human Mind - The New York Times
Feb 5, 1989 · The Mezzanine is a very funny book about the human mind, in particular that part of the mind that processes the triviality of daily events.
[25]
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker – review | Fiction - The Guardian
Jul 24, 2011 · The Mezzanine may sound a bit ridiculous, but it's actually a very human book, full of insights into how we behave among our co-workers.
[26]
VOX - Kirkus Reviews
7-day returnsFour men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and ...Missing: criticism | Show results with:criticism
[27]
Vox by Nicholson Baker - The Collidescope
Dec 30, 2021 · Baker's Vox manages to create a run-on exchange between a man and woman that's plausible even as it edges the borderline improbable.
[28]
Books of The Times; Up to No Good in No Elapsed Time
Feb 8, 1994 · To get a picture of Nicholson Baker's repulsive new hero, think of the worst charges of sexual harassment hurled at Clarence Thomas and Senator ...
[29]
Nicholson Baker Inteview: Master or Masturbator?
Mar 30, 1994 · Unfortunately, Baker protests, critics have mistaken The Fermata for an attack on women or, worse, a "position paper on how men ought to behave ...
[30]
Christopher Tayler · Porndecahedron: Nicholson Baker
Nov 3, 2011 · Erotic material for readers who won't trip up on words like 'relevé' and jokes about J.M. Barrie, Vox (1992) recounts a long conversation ...
[31]
Nicholson Baker: 'Writing this book was the most fun I ever had'
Aug 13, 2011 · The American author discusses the bizarre sexual fantasy world of his new novel, House of Holes.Missing: career | Show results with:career
[32]
Order of Nicholson Baker Books - OrderOfBooks.com
This is the Order of Nicholson Baker Books in both chronological order and publication order. List verified daily and newest books added immediately.
[33]
https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/nicholson-baker/212645/
[34]
Nicholson Baker Books In Publication & Chronological Order
List of all Nicholson Baker books in order. This is a complete printable listing of all Nicholson Baker books and lists the newest Nicholson Baker book.
[35]
"Double Fold" by Nicholson Baker - Salon.com
Apr 27, 2001 · A crusading novelist indicts America's libraries for destroying precious archives of newspapers and books -- and puts his own savings on the ...Missing: summary reception
[36]
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper - Goodreads
Rating 3.4 (983) Jan 1, 2001 · Baker argues passionately for preservation, even cashing in his own retirement account to save one important archive—all twenty tons of it.
[37]
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (review)
Double Fold is Nicholson Baker's impassioned plea to preserve newspapers, at any expense. Baker argues that replacing newspapers and books with microfilmed ...Missing: reception | Show results with:reception
[38]
Human Smoke - Nicholson Baker - Book Review
Mar 23, 2008 · Nicholson Baker's pacifist history of World War II is an eloquent and passionate assault on the idea that targeting civilians can ever be ...
[39]
So that's why Churchill took on the Nazis | History books
May 31, 2008 · Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke offers an extraordinary retelling of the years leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.
[40]
Nicholson Baker: Human Smoke | Asylum - WordPress.com
Mar 23, 2009 · Human Smoke can be filed under both 'attention to detail' and 'controversy'. In it, Baker uses diary entries, newspaper reports, speeches ...
[41]
Nicholson Baker Latest Articles | The New Yorker
Nicholson Baker is Nicholson Baker's most recent book is “Traveling Sprinkler.” on The New Yorker. Read Nicholson Baker's bio and get latest news stories ...
[42]
Wrong Answer, by Nicholson Baker - Harper's Magazine
“The entire math department at the University of Tennessee stopped speaking to me,” he told me. In 2005, Derek Stolp, who worked for thirty years as a high ...<|separator|>
[43]
Essays: Nicholson Baker | clivejames.com
Baker's journalism combines seemingly limitless research with the meticulous power of representation – accuracy raised to the intensity of metaphor – that ...
[44]
Amazon.com: The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber
30-day returnsNicholson Baker has published five novels–The Mezzanine, Room Temperature, Vox, The Fermata, and The Everlasting Story of Nory–and two works of nonfiction, U ...
[45]
Nicholson Baker's Deep Dives - Ploughshares
Feb 10, 2022 · Nicholson Baker's longform essay “Lumber,” included in his 1996 collection, The Size of Thoughts, is an extraordinary work.Missing: journalism | Show results with:journalism
[46]
The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber - Google Books
The Size of Thoughts, a collection of essays that have appeared in the New Yorker and other publications, includes one never-before-published piece on the ...<|separator|>
[47]
Nicholson Baker's essay collection The Way the World Works ...
Aug 3, 2012 · His style is deeply moral—not in a preachy sense, but in the ... Baker often ends up writing about exactly the thing he's writing about.Missing: analysis | Show results with:analysis
[48]
'The Way the World Works,' by Nicholson Baker - The New York Times
Nov 2, 2012 · In a collection spanning 15 years, Nicholson Baker ponders political controversies, personal intimacies and fascinating obscurities.Missing: career | Show results with:career<|control11|><|separator|>
[49]
The Way the World Works: Essays: Baker, Nicholson - Amazon.com
New York Times bestselling author Nicholson Baker has assembled a “provocative and entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) collection of his most original and ...
[50]
The Way the World Works by Nicholson Baker – review - The Guardian
Sep 8, 2012 · Nicholson Baker's 'microscopically attentive' worldview provides plenty of food for thought in this collection of essays.Missing: journalism | Show results with:journalism
[51]
Nicholson Baker Author Archive - New York Magazine
Jan 4, 2021 · Nicholson Baker is the author The Mezzanine, Vox, Human Smoke, and Baseless, among other books. He is the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award.
[52]
Human Smoke | Book by Nicholson Baker | Official Publisher Page
4–8 day delivery"In Human Smoke, Nicholson Baker turns his unrivaled literary talents to pacifism. His portraits of Churchill's imperial arrogance, Franklin Roosevelt's ...<|separator|>
[53]
Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke
Apr 23, 2008 · In an afterword on almost 500 pages of vignettes, Nick Baker offers his own judgment that the pacifists and other resisters had the right ...
[54]
[PDF] Nicholson Baker, Why I'm a Pacifist - New Humanity Institute
In his view, a negotiat- ed peace with Hitler was, paradoxi- cally, the best chance the Allies had of protecting the world from Hitler's last- ditch, ...
[55]
Why I'm a Pacifist, by Nicholson Baker - Harper's Magazine
The dangerous myth of the Good War by Nicholson Baker, This article is only available as a PDF to subscribers.
[56]
Exclusive interview: Why Nicholson Baker is a pacifist
May 4, 2011 · NB: Human Smoke deals atomistically with the beginnings of the war because I thought that was a good way of conveying the confusion and sadness ...<|separator|>
[57]
We Don't Know the Language We Don't Know | Nicholson Baker
Apr 8, 2011 · One Saturday last month I went to Lafayette Park in Washington D.C., across the street from the White House, in order to protest several ...
[58]
The Not-So-Good War - Bookforum
Nicholson Baker resurrects the Pacifist critique of WWII. Jonathan Schell. Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization BY Nicholson ...<|separator|>
[59]
Searcher's Voice - Don't Burn Books! Burn Librarians!!
Jun 6, 2001 · According to Mr. Baker's book, librarians have been, at best, criminally incompetent and, at worst, diabolically malevolent. They have actively ...
[60]
Responding to Nicholson Baker's Double Fold by Richard J. Cox
Apr 18, 2001 · This essay is a preliminary effort to assess the implications of Nicholson Baker's new book on library preservation.
[61]
Did America Use Bioweapons in Korea? Nicholson Baker Tried to ...
Jul 21, 2020 · Baseless,” the novelist's new work of nonfiction, is the record of a frustrated investigation and an indictment of government secrecy.
[62]
Nicholson Baker's Maddening Search for the Truth | The Nation
Oct 6, 2020 · The novelist recounts in Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act, he couldn't stop thinking about the US government's ...
[63]
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper - Amazon.com
With meticulous detective work and Baker's well-known explanatory power, Double Fold reveals a secret history of microfilm lobbyists, former CIA agents, and ...Missing: dispute | Show results with:dispute
[64]
A Classic Turns 20: Reviewing Double Fold by Nicholson Baker
Nov 29, 2021 · The story of Double Fold might be said to begin in the 1930s with the advent of microfilming. The idea of photographing documents to make them ...
[65]
Revisiting Nicholson Baker and Retention of Print
Feb 2, 2021 · Baker points out throughout his book that microfilm effectively strips the newspaper from its historical context in many ways. On a purely ...Missing: propaganda | Show results with:propaganda
[66]
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper
Nicholson Baker's new book Double Fold, so named for the folding test by which old books are determined "ready" for disposal, exposes the insidious newspaper ...<|separator|>
[67]
Vandals in the Stacks?: A Response to Nicholson Baker's Assault on ...
Libraries and archives have violated their public trust, argues Nicholson Baker in his controversial book Double Fold, by destroying traditional books, ...
[68]
Double Fold - H-Net Reviews
It would be easy to dismiss Nicholson Baker's new book Double Fold as a polemic, the conspiratorial rantings of a cranky novelist who knows nothing about his ...
[69]
Baker Spouts Sickening Twaddle in `Human Smoke': Book Review
Apr 16, 2008 · I assume Iraq was to blame for Baker's decision to write this morally questionable book. Morality can never be divorced from practicality, yet ...Missing: backlash | Show results with:backlash
[70]
'Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War ... - New York Magazine
Mar 21, 2008 · Some critics have been predictably outraged by Human Smoke, issuing code-orange alerts about the damage it will do to ignorant and ...Missing: backlash | Show results with:backlash
[71]
U.K. Historians Slam `Human Smoke' as `Mendacious, Fraudulent'
May 8, 2008 · A friend who admires Nicholson Baker's fiction took me to task last month for being too harsh in my review of ``Human Smoke,'' the ...<|separator|>
[72]
Snipping up the Second World War - The Telegraph
May 2, 2008 · Anyone can share Baker's moral disgust at the mass-bombing of civilians; but no intelligent person could possibly think that the complicated ...
[73]
It's rubbish to claim that Britain provoked Hitler into a fight
Nicholson Baker's book, for instance, was clearly written with Iraq in mind, frequently distorts the historical record (for instance, by taking quotations ...
[74]
A Chronology: Key Moments In The Clinton-Lewinsky Saga - CNN
Starr subpoenas records from Kramerbooks & Afterwords on Monica Lewinsky's purchases at the store. One of her purchases was reportedly Nicholson Baker's "Vox," ...
[75]
Starr to Get Lewinsky's Reading List - Time Magazine
Jun 23, 1998 · Lewinsky's attorneys resolved a dispute between a Washington ... Nicholson Baker's phone-sex bodice-ripper “Vox.” Animated Poster. Tap ...Missing: controversy | Show results with:controversy
[76]
Nicholson Baker: The Mad Scientist of Smut - The New York Times
Aug 4, 2011 · Baker's last real job was as a writer of technical manuals, which he held until he grew so anxious and obsessed that Margaret figured out a way ...Missing: Douglas | Show results with:Douglas
[77]
Magic Voyeurism - The New York Times
"The Fermata" seems to me more like a revenge of the girl-worshiping nerd than an offense against womankind. Shaggy dog stories may have gone out of fashion, ...Missing: criticism | Show results with:criticism
[78]
Assassination Dialogue: Baker's 'Checkpoint' Novel - NPR
Aug 18, 2004 · Alan Cheuse reviews Checkpoint, by Nicholson Baker, a controversial book in which two liberal Americans discuss a plot to assassinate President ...
[79]
Kill Bush | Books | The Guardian
Sep 10, 2004 · Checkpoint has caused a hoo-ha in the US because it entertains the assassination of a president. The most famous piece of fiction to advocate ...<|separator|>
[80]
The Extremities of Nicholson Baker - The New York Times
Aug 8, 2004 · the Democratic candidate for president criticizes the conduct of the American war in Iraq but recognizes the catastrophic consequences of an ...<|separator|>
[81]
A frustrating search for the truth about America's biological warfare
Aug 28, 2020 · The title of “Baseless” evokes Baker's escalating anger over his lack of hard evidence to answer that question. It also points a finger at the ...Missing: controversy | Show results with:controversy
[82]
Nicholson Baker on X: "My wife Margaret, who inspires me every ...
May 13, 2024 · My wife Margaret, who inspires me every day. We met in 1978 in the stairwell at Bryn Mawr College. #findingalikeness.Missing: marriage | Show results with:marriage
[83]
Local residents publish book on 'The World'
Dec 18, 2005 · Author Nicholson Baker and his wife, Margaret Brentano with a copy of their new book at their home in South Berwick, Maine.
[84]
Nicholson Baker on X: "Found out yesterday that since November ...
Jan 8, 2020 · For the record I'm happily married--for more than thirty years--to a delightful woman I met in college, Margaret Brentano. We live in Maine ...
[85]
Nicholson Baker's new book - Entertainment Weekly
Mar 11, 1994 · Married in 1985, he and wife Margaret had their first child in 1987, and the next year Baker published The Mezzanine, an intricate, comic ...
[86]
Margaret Brentano - Hachette Book Group
Margaret Brentano has worked in publishing and as a reporter. This is her first book. Baker and Brentano are married and live with their two children in Maine.
[87]
Nicholson Baker's Enthusiasms and Passionate Obsessions
Nov 3, 2009 · Nicholson Baker has enjoyed one of the oddest careers as a writer in recent memory. Trained as a musician (a bassoonist!)Missing: hobbies | Show results with:hobbies
[88]
Nicholson Baker on His New Protest Songs
Oct 8, 2012 · Technology · Business · Life · Advice · Podcasts. Menu Menu. News ... “I haven't been this besotten, if that's the word, with music since ...
[89]
Bruised by the world, this Maine author turned to painting
May 21, 2024 · The answer, for him, would be art. Although his mother had taught art classes and his father had worked as a graphic designer, their talents had ...Missing: hobbies | Show results with:hobbies
[90]
Ways of Seeing – Bookforum Magazine
In his middle novels, Baker's preoccupation with objects and images—with making them knowable and, unique among his TV-and-tchotchke-obsessed contemporaries, ...<|separator|>
[91]
Noted Author Nicholson Baker to Open Symposia on the Fate of the ...
Sep 25, 2012 · In 1997, Baker received the San Francisco-based James Madison Freedom of Information Award in recognition of these efforts. About the ...
[92]
Nicholson Baker, Writer | Townsend Center for the Humanities
Novelist and nonfiction writer Nicholson Baker is the author of The Mezzanine; Room Temperature; Vox; The Fermata; and The Everlasting Story of Nory, among ...Missing: biography key<|separator|>
[93]
Nicholson Baker - Granta
14-day returnsNicholson Baker was born in New York in 1957. He is the author of eight novels, including The Mezzanine, Vox and Room Temperature, all published by Granta Books ...<|separator|>
[94]
Two Haverford Alumni Named Guggenheim Fellows | Haverford ...
Nicholson Baker '79 and Anya Krugovoy Silver '90 were named as Guggenheim Fellows in April 2018. Baker photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty Images.
[95]
Here are the Literary Guggenheim Fellows of 2018
Apr 5, 2018 · 23 Fellowships Awarded in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry · General Nonfiction: Nicholson Baker Teju Cole Robert Finch Roxane Gay Jane Kamensky
[96]
Nicholson Baker - Literary Hub
He has won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hermann Hesse Prize, and a Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
[97]
Nicholson Baker's New Book, 'Baseless,' Describes His Search for ...
Jul 28, 2020 · Nicholson Baker's New Book, 'Baseless,' Describes His Search for Truth About Government Misdeeds · "Baseless: My Search For Secrets In The Ruins ...Missing: narratives | Show results with:narratives
[98]
Nicholson Baker: A Life in Detail | WUSF
Jan 15, 2003 · At the same time Baker was writing A Box of Matches, he was setting up the non-profit American Newspaper Repository, which attempts to save old ...
[99]
Philosophy Weekend: Nicholson Baker's Case for Pacifism
May 1, 2011 · “Pacifism” without context and without a sense of realism is silly and pointless. A serious embrace of pacifism begins when people realize that ...