Scott Timberg (February 15, 1969 – December 10, 2019) was an American journalist, culture writer, and editor. He was best known as an authority on southern California culture and for his book ''Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class''.

Early life

Scott Robert Timberg was born in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, son of journalist and author Robert Timberg and Jane Timberg. He was raised in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Timberg earned a Bachelor of Arts from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 1991 and a master’s degree in journalism from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. He attended a term abroad at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. His grandfather was composer Sammy Timberg and his great uncle was vaudevillian Herman Timberg.

Career

Timberg started his journalism career at '' The Day (New London)'' in Connecticut. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1997 to join the staff of '' New Times LA''. He was a long-time staff writer for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' until 2008 and a staff writer for ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

''. As a freelancer he wrote for the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

,'' ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''Los Angeles Magazine'', among others. Timberg spent the longest period of his life in Los Angeles, with a year in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

in 2015.

Books

* ''The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles (''editor, with Dana Gioia'') (''2003'')'' * ''Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class'' (2015) * ''Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice, 1967–75'' (co-written with Richard Thompson) (2021)

Writings about Timberg

* Various, ''Remembering Scott Timberg'' (

) (2019) * Christopher Reynolds, ''Scott Timberg, spirited listener, reader and writer is dead at 50'' (

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the large ...

) (2019) * ''

Dana Gioia Michael Dana Gioia (; born December 24, 1950) is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. Since the early 1980s, Gioia has been considered part of the highly controversial and countercultural literary movements w ...

'', ''Scott Timberg: a bitter symbol for those who have been marginalized by our “creative culture"'' (The Book Haven) (2019)

Awards

Timberg's book ''Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class'' won the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award in 2015. The ''New Yorker'' called it "a quietly radical rethinking of the very nature of art in modern life".

Personal life and death

Timberg married Sara Scribner, a school librarian and journalist; the couple had a son. Timberg committed suicide on December 10, 2019, in Los Angeles, at the age of 50.

References

External links

* Timberg's blo
''CultureCrash''
1969 births 2019 suicides 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American male journalists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Los Angeles Times people People from Stanford, California Place of death missing University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Journalists from Los Angeles Wesleyan University alumni 21st-century American male writers 2019 deaths Suicides in California {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub