I Got a Song, released in 2017, is the first-ever book exclusively devoted to the history of the Newport Folk Festival. It documents the trajectory of an American musical cornerstone over its 59 years. My historical research is complemented by extensive new interviews with people who saw it all and who made it all happen,…

Read more I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival

This book, published in 2016, documents the houses and lives of the bureaucratic, journalistic and spy elites who lived very close to each other in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, during the Cold War and used the dinner party as an alternative method of meeting, sharing and working. In the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s,…

Read more A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set

Along with writing the books I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival and A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set, Rick is the assistant editor at US Chess, putting together the monthly magazine Chess Life among other responsibilities. He’s the co-leader of two musical ensembles — The Canonical Set and The Empirical Brothers…

Read more About