Jack Hitt

2007

Charleston, Charleston County, United States of America

He is a contributing editor to Harper"s, The New York Times Magazine, and This American Life. He has also written for the now-defunct magazine Lingua Franca, and his work frequently appears in such publications as Outside Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Wired. More recently, a piece on the anthropology of white Indians was selected for Best American Science Writing, and another piece about dying languages appeared in Best American Travel Writing. Another piece, on the existential life of a superfund site, was included in Ira Glass"s The New Kings of Nonfiction (2007). He got his start in journalism as editor of the Paper Clip, the literary magazine of Porter-Gaud"s first through fifth grades. According to his biography, he published "some of the finest haiku penned by well-off pre-teens in all of South Carolina"s lowcountry". Writing and journalism career Since 1996, Hitt has also been a contributing editor to the radio series This American Life. He contributed a story about a production of Peter Pan in an episode entitled "Fiasco". Other pieces include "Dawn", about his life growing up with Dawn Langley Simmons (an early recipient of sex reassignment surgery), a 12-minute piece in episode 216 ("Give the People What They Want"), titled "How America Actually Got Its Name", an hour-long program on a group of prisoners in a maximum security prison staging a production of Hamlet (“Acting V”, episode #218), a segment on voter fraud in the 2008 American Presidential election ("Cold-cock The Vote", #276), another episode about his life in a New York apartment building in which his superintendent turned out to be the head of a death squad in Brazil (“The Super”, #323), and more recently a segment on the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay called "Habeas Schmabeas" (#331). This last program earned him the Peabody Award in 2007. Since 2007, Hitt has been one of two regular United States correspondents on Nine to Noon, hosted by Kathryn Ryan on Radio New Zealand National. Jack is currently performing in a one man show he wrote, called Making Up The Truth, about his childhood and the outlandish characters he"s met in his life. Personal life.

Back to Profile

Photos
Works

book

Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character

(WHAT IS IT THAT DRIVES THE SUCCESS OF AMERICA AND THE IDE...)

The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime by Jack Hitt (1991-07-01)

Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character by Hitt Jack (2012-05-15) Hardcover

The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime

(Five masters of mystery and suspense present their ideas ...)

Jack Hitt

Edit Profile

author

Background

Hitt was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where he attended the Porter-Gaud School.

Career

He is a contributing editor to Harper"s, The New York Times Magazine, and This American Life. He has also written for the now-defunct magazine Lingua Franca, and his work frequently appears in such publications as Outside Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Wired. More recently, a piece on the anthropology of white Indians was selected for Best American Science Writing, and another piece about dying languages appeared in Best American Travel Writing.

Another piece, on the existential life of a superfund site, was included in Ira Glass"s The New Kings of Nonfiction (2007).

He got his start in journalism as editor of the Paper Clip, the literary magazine of Porter-Gaud"s first through fifth grades. According to his biography, he published "some of the finest haiku penned by well-off pre-teens in all of South Carolina"s lowcountry".

Writing and journalism career Since 1996, Hitt has also been a contributing editor to the radio series This American Life. He contributed a story about a production of Peter Pan in an episode entitled "Fiasco".

Other pieces include "Dawn", about his life growing up with Dawn Langley Simmons (an early recipient of sex reassignment surgery), a 12-minute piece in episode 216 ("Give the People What They Want"), titled "How America Actually Got Its Name", an hour-long program on a group of prisoners in a maximum security prison staging a production of Hamlet (“Acting V”, episode #218), a segment on voter fraud in the 2008 American Presidential election ("Cold-cock The Vote", #276), another episode about his life in a New York apartment building in which his superintendent turned out to be the head of a death squad in Brazil (“The Super”, #323), and more recently a segment on the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay called "Habeas Schmabeas" (#331).

This last program earned him the Peabody Award in 2007. Since 2007, Hitt has been one of two regular United States correspondents on Nine to Noon, hosted by Kathryn Ryan on Radio New Zealand National. Jack is currently performing in a one man show he wrote, called Making Up The Truth, about his childhood and the outlandish characters he"s met in his life.

Personal life.