Mother Jones: Writing for an America in Crisis

Adam Hochschild has enjoyed the most rewarding and most challenging relationship any wordsmith can have—that of working as an editor with well-matched writers. Hochschild, a founder of Mother Jones magazine, is the author of seven books, including King Leopold's Ghost, a history of Belgian colonialism in Congo, and To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, which chronicled British war resisters—and war fighters—during World War I. He talks with Mother Jones coeditor Monika Bauerlein about what it means to write carefully and edit thoughtfully at a time when both crafts seem out of fashion, and they grapple with the question of whether the power of carefully chosen words can survive in an era of instant communication—and if so, how.