Ken Kurson

Remembering Legendary Film Reviewer Rex Reed

May 12, 2026May 13, 2026 Ken Kurson 0 Comments American cultural criticism, Andrew Neel, Andrew Sarris, Ava Gardner, Broadway lunches, Broadway theater, critic obituaries, cultural criticism, Drew Grant, film criticism, film journalism, film reviewing, Goat movie, Hollywood gossip, hollywood history, Identity Thief, Jesse Oxfeld, Jill Krementz, journalism memoir, Larry King, Lost in America, magazine journalism, media criticism, Melissa McCarthy controversy, movie critics, New Journalism, New York film critics, New York media, New York Observer, Observer history, old Hollywood, Peter Kaplan, Peter Travers, Rex Reed, Richard Corliss, Toronto Film Festival

His work at the New York Observer was often salt and vinegar, but also often crisp

BOOKS Featured Stories FICTION

Woody Allen Debuts as a Novelist: ‘What’s With Baum’

December 29, 2025January 28, 2026 Ken Kurson 0 Comments Mia Farrow, Ronan Farrow, What's With Baum, Woody Allen

The legendary filmmaker’s first foray is lively, brilliant, familiar, worthy, and kinda true

BOOKS Featured Stories

The 2024 Election Gets Its ‘Game Change’

November 4, 2025November 8, 2025 Ken Kurson 1 Comment 2024 election, American politics, Amie Parnes, Anita Dunn, campaign books, Donald Trump, Double Down, Fight, Game Change, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Joe Biden, Jonathan Allen, Kamala Harris, NBC News, Susie Wiles, The Hill

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’s ‘Fight’ is a breathless, uneven, but deeply compelling chronicle of a chaotic campaign

BOOKS Memoir NON-FICTION

Larry Charles Dishes on ‘Curb,’ ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Borat’ and Life

July 21, 2025July 21, 2025 Ken Kurson 2 Comments Ari Emanuel, Borat, Bruno, Comedy Samurai, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and Mad About You, Fridays, JB Smoove, John C. Reilly, Larry Charles, Larry David, Sacha Baron Cohen, Seinfeld

‘Comedy Samurai’ catalogs a stunning career but skimps on introspection

Michael Milken Reconsidered

November 15, 2023January 1, 2024 Ken Kurson 0 Comments Bob Altman, Dennis Levine, Donald Trump, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Gibson Dunn, Haim Saban, Ivan Boesky, James Stewart, Judge Kimba Wood, Lowell Milken .Den of Thieves, Marc Rich, Martin Siegel, Michael Milken, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, Richard Sandler, Robert Rubi, Ron Berkle, Rudy Giuliani, Ted Olsen, Wall Street, Witness to a Prosecution

Close friend offers fresh look at much-maligned 1980s high-yield mogul

Wenner

Audiobooks MUSIC

The Cancellation of Jann Wenner

September 17, 2023January 1, 2024 Ken Kurson 7 Comments Bono, David Marchese, Jann Wenner, Mick Jagger, New York Times, Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone

Ill-conceived remarks about race and gender in New York Times interview flush away 55-year career

Bob Barker Has Died, Fittingly, with a 99 at the End

August 26, 2023March 22, 2025 Ken Kurson 0 Comments Bob Barker, Drew Carey, The Price Is Right

Gentlemanly game show host was the last of a dying breed

Business NON-FICTION

Our Indie Bookstore, Like All Indie Bookstores, Is a Force for Good

November 28, 2022February 4, 2023 Ken Kurson 0 Comments Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Old Florida Book Shop, Rock and Roll Globe, Sea of Reeds, The Book House, Virginia Woolf

On Cyber Monday, remember that if you want quirky bespoke stores to exist, you need to support them

Wenner

Memoir NON-FICTION

Jann Wenner and the World He Made

October 4, 2022February 6, 2023 Ken Kurson 1 Comment Annie Leibovitz, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Greil Marcus, Hunter S. Thompson, Jann Wenner, Jon Landau, Mick Jagger, Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones, Tom Wolfe

Publisher’s memoir reveals a private, ambitious guy at the center of everything awesome

The Last Supper, Reinvented as a Musical, Shoots for Broadway

August 5, 2022February 5, 2023 Ken Kurson 2 Comments Charlotte d’Amboise, Howard Kagan, Jeff Thomson, Jeremy Desmond, Lorin Latarro, Mark Evans, Megan Kane, Sheryl Kaller, The Last Supper

Timely, entertaining show about divided politics fails to even the score

‘Meltdown’ Is the Best Podcast of the Year

May 31, 2022June 3, 2022 Ken Kurson 1 Comment (SIGTARP), Apple+, Audible, Bernie Sanders, Brad Miller, Brown-Kaufman amendment, Daniel Sparks, David Sirota, Dianne Feinstein, Elise Bean, financial crisis, Goldman Sachs, Google, Lisa Epstein, Matt Taibbi, Meltdown, Neil Barofsky, President Obama, Rick Santelli, Sen. Carl Levin, Senator Warren, Spotify, Ted Rall, Tim Geithner

Lefty take on 2008 financial crisis powerfully depicts how not punishing the bankers was the point

NON-FICTION True Crime

The Ultimate Ponzi: The Scott Rothstein Story

February 28, 2022September 18, 2023 Ken Kurson 0 Comments Ponzi scheme, Scott Rothstein

Book about South Florida fraudster skewers its subject and memorably portrays its milieu

Nerd Love with a British Accent

November 5, 2021November 5, 2021 Ken Kurson 1 Comment Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Celiya Koster-Brown, Emily Jayne, Hillary Shakespeare, Jack Boal, James Calloway, Scarlett Marshall, Soundtrack to Sixteen

‘Soundtrack to Sixteen’ wrings fresh life from a familiar trope

Business NON-FICTION

Hello, Neumann

December 2, 2020March 15, 2022 Ken Kurson 1 Comment Adam Neumann, Benchmark, Billion Dollar Loser, Bruce Dunlevie, Charles Duhigg, DoorDash, Jack Ma, Jamal Khashoggi, Jared Kushner, Jennifer Berrent, Masayoshi Son, Miguel McKelvey, Rebekah Neumann, Reeves Wiedeman, Softbank, Stephen Hadley, venture capital, WeWork

Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork by Reeves Wiedeman

Mark Lanegan

Memoir NON-FICTION

Mark Lanegan’s Beautifully Sad Memoir of Drugs and Despair

September 3, 2020August 18, 2022 Ken Kurson 4 Comments Alice in Chains, Bruce Pavitt, Courtney Love, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Jerry Cantrell, Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Lee Connor, Liam Gallagher, memoir, Screaming Trees, Sing Backwards and Weep, Sub Pop, The Gun Club, Van Connor, Vocalist Mark Lanegan

Screaming Trees vocalist sings a powerful story

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