Kurt Andersen via Matrix

Kurt Andersen

VIA THE INTEGRATED GLOBAL
CREATIVE ECONOMY

inspired by
THE GRAPEVINE TELEGRAPH
of Pre-Civil War African-Americans

promulgated by
The Brazilian Ministry of Culture

fomented by
The Bahian Secretary of Culture

fomented by
The Palmares Foundation
for the promotion of Afro-Brazilian Culture

fomented by
The National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples

I CURATE

Network Node

Name: Kurt Andersen
City/Place: Brooklyn, NY
Country: United States
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska

CURATION

from this node by: Matrix+

Life & Work

Bio: Kurt Andersen is a writer. He spent his first 20 years in Nebraska, and most of the rest in New York City. His latest book is Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History, a companion volume to Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History, both of which were New York Times bestsellers. He’s also the author of the critically acclaimed, bestselling novels True Believers, Heyday, and Turn of the Century.

Evil Geniuses is "a work of towering importance," according to Anand Giridharadas, who in the New York Times Book Review also called it an "essential, absorbing book" in which Andersen "carefully, meticulously, overwhelmingly, argues through facts" but "never loses the texture of actual human beings. He is a graceful, authoritative guide, and he has a Writer-with-a-capital-W’s ability to defamiliarize the known." Fantasyland, according to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in 2017, was “most important book that I have read this year," and Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics) said it “presents the very best kind of idea—one that, in retrospect, seems obvious, but that took a seer like Kurt Andersen to piece together,” with “thinking and writing [that] are dazzling, an absolute joy to read and will leave your brain dancing with excitement.” True Believers appeared on the best-novels-of-the-year lists of the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post, and Booklist called it “an ambitious and remarkable novel” of “spellbinding suspense.”

True Believers appeared on the best-novels-of-the- year lists of the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. Booklist called it “an ambitious and remarkable novel” of “spellbinding suspense.” According to other reviewers it is “the best reverie on the 1960s and their legacy” (Fortune), “emotionally accurate” and “profound” (USA Today), and “a great American novel” (Vanity Fair).

Heyday was a New York Times bestseller that the Los Angeles Times called “a major work.” The New York Times Book Review said there is “something moving in the energy of its amazement.” And the Houston Chronicle (and nine other papers) said it “deserves instant acceptance into the ranks [of] Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, [and] Gore Vidal’s Lincoln.” It was included on several best-books-of-the-year lists, and won the Langum Prize as the best American historical novel of the year.

The New York Times called Turn of the Century “wickedly satirical” and “outrageously funny” and named it a Notable Book of the year, while The Wall Street Journal called it a “smart, funny and excruciatingly deft portrait of our age.” It was a national bestseller, and Publishers Weekly called it one of the ten best long novels ever

He has also written for film, television and the stage. He was executive producer and head writer of two prime-time specials for NBC, How to Be Famous and Hit List, starring Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He has written screenplays for Walt Disney and Village Roadshow Pictures, and pilots for ABC, NBC, HBO and Amazon. He was co-author of Loose Lips, a satirical off-Broadway revue that had long runs in New York and Los Angeles starring Bebe Neuwirth, Harry Shearer and Andy Richter.

He regularly appears as a commentator on MSNBC, and has delivered TED talks. He served as a summer guest Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, and still contributes regularly to the Times. He has also been also a regular columnist and critic for New York, The New Yorker and TIME.

He was the host and co-creator of Studio 360, the cultural magazine show produced by Public Radio International from 2000 to 2020. It was broadcast on 250 stations and distributed by podcast to almost 1 million listeners each week. The show won Peabody Awards for broadcast excellence in both 2005 and 2013.

As an editor, Kurt co-founded the transformative satirical magazine Spy and served as editor-in-chief of New York. He also co-founded Inside, a digital and print publication covering the media and entertainment industries, oversaw a relaunch of Colors magazine, co-founded the online newsletter Very Short List, and served as editor-at- large for Random House.

He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design, taught at the School of Visual Arts, and serves on the boards of Film Streams and the Pratt Institute. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Anne Kreamer.

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Management/Booking: AGENTS
Books
Suzanne Gluck, WME
212.903.1169
[email protected]

Broadcast & Podcast
Henry Reisch, WME
[email protected]

Ben Davis, WME
[email protected]

Speaking/Appearances
Don Walker, The Harry Walker Agency
646.227.4902
[email protected]

TV Writing
Blake Fronstin, WME
310.859.4207
[email protected]

Bradley Singer, WME
[email protected]

PUBLICITY
Greg Kubie, Penguin Random House
212.782.9038
[email protected]m

Media | Markets

▶ Twitter: KBAndersen
▶ Instagram: kurtbandersen
▶ Website: http://www.kurtandersen.com
▶ Articles: http://www.kurtandersen.com/selected-journalism
▶ Articles 2: http://www.kurtandersen.com/press

My Writing

Publications: Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History

During the twentieth century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all-powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests, and leaving the huge majority of Americans with dwindling economic prospects and hope.

Why and how did America take such a wrong turn? In this deeply researched and brilliantly woven cultural, economic, and political chronicle, Kurt offers a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening history of America’s undoing, naming names, showing receipts, and unsparingly assigning blame—to the radical right in economics and the law, the high priests of high finance, a complacent and complicit Establishment, and liberal “useful idiots,” among whom he includes himself.

Clips (more may be added)

Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen, read by Kurt Andersen by PRH Audio
By Kurt Andersen

237 views

Kurt Andersen Curated

What's Been Happening?

A category was added to Kurt Andersen:

Playwright
- August 31, 2020
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Television Writer
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Screenwriter
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Journalist
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Essayist
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A video was posted re Kurt Andersen:

Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen, read by Kurt Andersen by PRH Audio
When did America give up on fairness? The New York Times bestselling author of Fantasyland tells the epic history of how America decided that big business gets whatever it wants, only the rich get richer, and nothing should ever change—and charts a way ba...
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Short Stories
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Novelist
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New York City
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Radio Presenter
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Writer
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Kurt Andersen is matrixed!
- August 31, 2020

English (Portuguese →)

Pathways from Brazil

THROUGH THE INTEGRATED GLOBAL CREATIVE ECONOMY

(all is closer than we imagine)

"I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
✅—Susan Rogers
Personal recording engineer: Prince, Paisley Park
Director: Music Perception & Cognition Laboratory, Berklee College of Music
Author: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

The matrix was created in Salvador's Centro Histórico, where Bule Bule below, among magisterial colleagues for whom this matrix was originally built, sings "Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor... The time has come for these bronzed people to show their worth..."

Created because in common with most cultures around our planet, the preponderance of Brazil's vast cultural treasure has been impossible to find from outside of circumscribed regions, including Brazil itself...

Music & lyrics (Brasil Pandeiro) by Assis Valente of Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. Video by Betão Aguiar of Salvador.

Thus something new under the tropical sun: A means by which those above, those below, and EVERYBODY ELSE in the creative economy can be divulged EVERYWHERE.

Quincy Jones can curate Gilberto Gil, for example. And Gil can curate, writers, dancers, filmmakers, painters, record producers, set designers...Luê Soares of Belém do Pará behind the mic above. You get to Quincy, you can get to Luê. Direct line.

And by the mathematics of the small world phenomenon, everybody in the matrix will tend to proximity to everybody else, in the same way that most human beings are within some six or so steps of most others.

The difference being that in the matrix, these steps are along pathways that can be travelled. The creative world becomes a neighborhood. Quincy Jones is right up the street and Branford Marsalis around the corner. And the most far-flung genius you've never heard of is just a few doors down. Maybe even in Brazil. Laroyê!

"Matrixado!"

✅—Founding Member Darius Mans
Economist, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
✅—Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
President of Brazil

The matrix is the ultimate evolution of a pathway which began in New York City decades ago per the "rescue" of unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Led Zeppelin, Philip Glass, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd of Kingston's Studio One (Bob Marley's producer), and others. A long and winding road that led inexorably to the necessity of a truly open arts universe, for there is more in Heaven and Earth...

"Many thanks for this - I am touched!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
That most fabled cellist in the United Kingdom (and Brazilian music fan)

"I'm truly thankful... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini
Blue Note recording artist)

"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals
Founder of The Klezmatics

"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad
Compositions recorded by Yo Yo Ma and played by orchestras around the world

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, manager)
✅—Kamasi Washington

Tap people, tap categories, tap curations... The matrix is a maze of tunnels within King Solomon's creative mines.

(← Inglês) Português

Caminhos do Brasil

ATRAVÉS DA ECONOMIA CRIATIVA GLOBAL INTEGRADA

(tudo está mais perto do que imaginamos)

"Fico muitíssimo feliz em receber seu e-mail! Obrigada por me incluir neste matrix maravilhoso."
✅—Susan Rogers
Engenheiro de gravação pessoal para Prince: Paisley Park
Diretora: Laboratório de Percepção e Cognição Musical, Berklee College of Music
Autora: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

O matrix foi criado no Centro Histórico de Salvador, onde Bule Bule abaixo, entre colegas magisteriais para quem este matrix foi originalmente construído, canta "Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor..."

Criado porque em comum com a maioria das culturas ao redor do nosso planeta, a preponderância do vasto tesouro cultural do Brasil tem sido impossível de encontrar de fora de regiões circunscritas, incluido o próprio Brasil...

Música & letras (Brasil Pandeiro) por Assis Valente de Santo Amaro, Bahia. Vídeo por Betão Aguiar de Salvador.

Assim algo novo sob o sol tropical: Um meio pelo qual os acima, os abaixo e TODOS OS OUTROS na economia criativa podem ser divulgados em TODOS OS LUGARES.

Quincy Jones pode indicar Gilberto Gil, por exemplo. Gil pode indicar escritores, dançarinos, cineastas, pintores, produtores de discos...Luê Soares de Belém do Pará atrás do microfone acima. Você chega em Quincy, pode chegar em Luê. Linha direta.

E pela matemática do fenômeno de mundo pequeno, todos no matrix tenderão a se aproximar de todos, da mesma forma que a maioria dos seres humanos estão dentro de cerca de seis passos da maioria dos outros.

Com a diferença que no matrix, estes passos estão ao longo de caminhos que podem ser percorridos. O mundo criativo se torna uma vizinhança. Quincy Jones está lá em cima e Branford Marsalis está ao virar da esquina. E o gênio distante que você nunca ouviu falar tá lá embaixo. Talvez até no Brasil. Laroyê!

"Matrixado!"

✅—Membro Fundador Darius Mans
Economista, doutorado, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
✅—Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Presidente do Brasil

O matrix é a evolução definitiva de um caminho que começou em Nova York há décadas atrás pelo "resgate" dos direitos autorais não pagos para Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Led Zeppelin, Philip Glass, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd do Studio One de Kingston (o produtor de Bob Marley), e outros. Um longo e sinuoso caminho que levou inexoravelmente à necessidade de um universo de artes verdadeiramente abertom pois há mais no Céu e na Terra...

"Muito obrigado por isso - estou tocado!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
Estamos tocados também Sr. Webber!
Merecidamente o violoncelista mais lendário do Reino Unido (e fã da música brasileira)

"Estou realmente agradecido... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini
Artista da Blue Note)

"Obrigada, esta é uma ideia brilhante!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals
Fundadora do The Klezmatics

"Este é um trabalho super impressionante! Parabéns! Obrigada por me incluir :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad
Composições gravadas por Yo Yo Ma e tocadas por orquestras ao redor do mundo

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, empresário)
✅—Kamasi Washington

Toque em pessoas, toque em categorias, toque em curadoria... O matrix é um labirinto de túneis dentro das minas criativas do Rei Salomão.