Gary Krist (writer)

Gary Michael Krist (born 1957) is an American writer of fiction, nonfiction, travel journalism, and literary criticism. Before turning to narrative nonfiction with ''The White Cascade'' (2007), a book about the 1910 Wellington avalanche, '' City of Scoundrels'' (2012), about Chicago's tragic summer of 1919, and '' Empire of Sin'' (2014), about the reform wars in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, Krist wrote three novels--''Bad Chemistry'' (1998), ''Chaos Theory'' (2000), and ''Extravagance'' (2002). He has also written two short story collections--''The Garden State'' (1988) and ''Bone by Bone'' (1994). His most recent books are ''The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles'' (2018) and ''Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco'' (2025).

Career

He has been a frequent book reviewer for '' The New York Times Book Review'', '' Salon'', and '' The Washington Post Book World''. His satire pieces have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'' Outlook section, and '' Newsday'', and his stories, articles, and travel pieces have been featured in '' National Geographic Traveler'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' GQ'', '' Playboy'', '' The New Republic'', and '' Esquire'', and on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts. His short stories have also been anthologized in such collections as ''Men Seeking Women'', ''Writers' Harvest 2'', and '' Best American Mystery Stories''.

He has been the recipient of The Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. "Empire of Sin" was named one of the top ten books of 2014 by '' The Washington Post'' and '' Library Journal''. Krist has been awarded a 2020-2021 Public Scholar grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the research for ''Trespassers at the Golden Gate'', about the early history of San Francisco.

Life

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Krist is a graduate of Princeton University. In 1979–80, he studied literature at the Universitaet Konstanz (Germany) on a Fulbright Scholarship. The author has been profiled in ''The New York Times Book Review'' (November 6, 1988) and the Style section of ''The Washington Post'' (February 25, 2007).

Krist and his wife live in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Bibliography

;Novels and story collections
*''The Garden State'' New York : Vintage Books, 1988. ,
*''Bone by Bone'' New York Harcourt Brace, 1994. ,
*''Bad Chemistry'' New York: Random House, 1998. ,
*''Chaos Theory'' New York : Jove Books, 2001. ,
*''Extravagance'' New York : Broadway Books, 2002. ,

;Nonfiction
*''The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche'' New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. ,
*''City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago'' New York: Broadway Books, 2012. ,
*'' Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans'' New York: Broadway Books, 2014.
*''The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles'' New York: Crown Publishers, 2018. ,
*''Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco'' New York: Crown Publishers, 2025. ,

External links

Gary Krist's website

The White Cascade website

Interview with Gary Krist about 'The White Cascade'

NPR Interview with Gary Krist about 'City of Scoundrels'


Dining With Strangers interview with Gary Krist about 'Empire of Sin'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krist, Gary
1957 births
Living people
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male journalists
American literary critics
American male novelists
American travel writers
Writers from Bethesda, Maryland
Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey
Princeton University alumni
Novelists from Maryland
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American short story writers
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from New Jersey
21st-century American non-fiction writers