Selected writings by Scott Stossel

'Coming Out' as Anxious
The New York Times, February 3, 2015
"I decided to write a book about anxiety. The dilemma: Should I reveal anything about my own struggles? Would I hurt myself professionally by doing so? Embarrass myself? Worsen my anxiety?"

David Adam's 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop'
The New York Times, January 30, 2015
Reviewed by Scott Stossel.

Anxiety: A Modern Phenomenon?
Psychotherapy Networker, January 9, 2015
Scott Stossel on coping with anxiety in today's world.

'Updike' by Adam Begley
The Boston Globe, April 2014
A review by Scott Stossel.

Surviving Anxiety
The Atlantic, January/February 2014 issue
I've tried therapy, drugs, and booze. Here's how I came to terms with the nation's most common mental illness.

The Special Relationship
The Wall Street Journal, January 2013
A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and his longtime editor offer a guide to the craft of nonfiction.

'Sweet Tooth' by Ian McEwan
The Boston Globe, July 2012
A review by Scott Stossel.

Mark Shriver's Quest to Understand "A Good Man"
The Daily Beast, June 2012
In a moving new memoir, Sargent Shriver's son tries to figure out his decent, honorable dad--and recounts stories of the Kennedy family and Sarge's deep faith. Shriver biographer Scott Stossel salutes a good son's quest.

You and Your Friend's Friend's Friends
The New York Times, October 2009
Scott Stossel reviews Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler.

Still Crazy After All These Years
The New York Times, December 2008
Does psychotherapy work?

Whose Life Is It?
The New York Times, March 2007
Scott Stossel reviews Nigel Hamilton's Biography: A Brief History.

Measure for Measure
The New York Times, January 2007
Scott Stossel reviews Sarah Igo's The Averaged American.

The Joy of Delusion
The New York Times, May 2006
Scott Stossel reviews Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness.

The Height of Success
The New York Times, November 2006
Scott Stossel reviews Stephen S. Hall's Size Matters: How Height Affects the Health, Happiness, and Success of Boys--and the Men They Become.

North Korea: The War Game
The Atlantic, July/August 2005 issue
Dealing with North Korea could make Iraq look like child's play--and the longer we wait, the harder it will get. That's the message of a Pentagon-style war game involving some of this country's most prominent foreign-policy strategists.

The tragedy of '04
The Boston Globe, August 2005
Do you ever find yourself secretly wishing the Red Sox had lost last October?

The Faithful
The Boston Globe, August 2004
From ancient times to our own, sport and religion have been deeply connected. But here in Red Sox Nation, there are varieties of religious experience only a Sox fan can know.

Knifed
The Atlantic, May 2004 issue
How a Kennedy brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, fell victim to the jealous acolytes of a political dynasty in mourning.

'Doonesbury' as history
The Baltimore Sun, March 2004 issue
Garry Trudeau has produced 'the comic strip of record' of the United States since 1970.

Kerrey's Quagmire
The American Prospect, April 2002
"In his more recent appearance, [New School University President Bob Kerrey] was the bad guy."

Echo Chamber of Horrors
The American Prospect, December 2001
The infinite feedback loop that television news has become.

Bibliosophy
The American Prospect, November 2001
Scott Stossel reviews The Business of Books: How International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read by Andre Shiffrin and Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future by Jason Epstein. .

The Other Edmund Wilson
The American Prospect, November 2001
Today there is no shortage of writing about literature or of literature about writing. But there used to be writing that was about both.

Elitism for Everyone
The Atlantic.com, November 1997
Auden, Trilling, Barzun... and Oprah? A consideration of two very different book clubs sheds light on the Franzen Affair.

Sports: War Games
The American Prospect, October 2001
"Even leaving aside the obvious similarities of terminology, American sports and American military activity have been strikingly paired over the past several weeks."

As American as Women's Soccer
The Atlantic, June 2001 issue
Everything about the professional women's soccer league is unorthodox--which is why it may succeed.

The Soul of a New Economy
The Atlantic.com, June 2000 issue
A new genre, call it "The Businessman as Revolutionary," has corporate culture co-opting counterculture in the Internet economy. Yet, as Jeremy Rifkin argues in The Age of Access, it's capitalism itself that may be transformed -- and not necessarily for the better.

The Reporters' War
The Boston Phoenix, October 1998
A massive new anthology of Vietnam journalism shows once again that the worst fighting often produces the best writing.

Bound to Be Bad
The New Yorker, October 1998
Scott Stossel reviews Loompanics Unlimited and "How to Sneak Into the Movies".

Bargaining With Prozac
The Boston Phoenix, September 1998
A memoir of a decade on antidepressants raises haunting questions about the price of being normal.

Aches and Pains
The Boston Phoenix, March 1998
Like many great thinkers, William James was troubled in body and mind.

The Next Left
The Atlantic.com, April 1998
Richard Rorty, the eminent philosopher and author of Achieving Our Country, argues that the American Left, if it is to recapture its relevance, must take pride in its past.

John Updike
The Boston Phoenix, October 1997
A review of Toward the End of Time.

The Man Who Counts the Killings
The Atlantic, May 1997 issue
George Gerbner, who thirty years ago founded the Cultural Indicators project, which is best known for its estimate that the average American child will have watched 8,000 murders on television by the age of twelve, is so alarmed about the baneful effects of TV that he describes them in terms of "fascism."

Right, Here Goes
The Atlantic, April 1996 issue
A review of Therapy by David Lodge.