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| Eric Schlosser | |
|---|---|
| Name | Eric Schlosser |
| Birth date | 1959 |
| Birth place | New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Investigative journalist, author |
| Nationality | American |
Eric Schlosser is an American investigative journalist and author known for investigative nonfiction that examines industrial food production, labor, mass incarceration, and popular culture. His work combines long-form reporting with cultural history, drawing attention from policymakers, journalists, and activists. Schlosser's books have been influential in debates involving food safety, labor practices, criminal justice, and media, shaping public discourse through detailed reporting and archival research.
Schlosser was born in New York City in 1959 and raised in a family connected to Massachusetts and California; his upbringing intersected with cultural institutions and political currents of the late 20th century. He attended Harvard College, where he studied history and engaged with campus publications and academic networks linked to figures at The New Yorker and The Atlantic. After Harvard, Schlosser pursued graduate work at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, connecting him to intellectual circles associated with Oxford University and scholars who shaped debates about public policy and media in the 1980s.
Schlosser began his professional career in journalism with contributions to Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly, where he wrote long-form investigative pieces that explored intersections of industry, labor, and law. He expanded into book-length reporting with deep archival research and interviews spanning institutions such as McDonald's Corporation, Walmart, and contractors in the United States industrial complex. His investigations often intersected with topics studied by scholars at Harvard Kennedy School, Columbia Journalism School, and think tanks like the Brookings Institution and Cato Institute. Schlosser has also appeared in documentary films and collaborated with filmmakers and producers connected to PBS, BBC, and independent documentary houses that examine corporate practices and public health. His journalistic style reflects influences from investigative writers who have worked at The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, and ProPublica.
Schlosser's major books include a study of fast-food culture and industry practices that scrutinized corporations such as McDonald's Corporation, Burger King, and Wendy's, written in conversation with scholarship on labor and public health at Johns Hopkins University and UCLA. He followed with an exposé of agricultural labor and meatpacking linking companies like Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods to workplace safety concerns highlighted by researchers at Iowa State University and Cornell University. Another major work investigated the United States penal system, discussing mass incarceration, private prison companies like The GEO Group and CoreCivic, and legislative frameworks shaped by lawmakers in Congress and sentencing reforms advocated by organizations such as the ACLU and the Sentencing Project. Schlosser also produced essays on the history of clandestine weapons programs and Cold War-era projects connected to institutions like Los Alamos National Laboratory and events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Recurring themes in Schlosser's work include corporate power, labor exploitation, public health crises, and the social impacts of industrial systems, explored through case studies involving corporations like McDonald's Corporation, Walmart, Tyson Foods, and Smithfield Foods. He situates private-sector practices within legal and political frameworks involving Congress, federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and advocacy by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Citizen. Schlosser's reporting has influenced policy debates at institutions like the U.S. Department of Agriculture and inspired documentaries aired on PBS and BBC Two, as well as investigative projects by newsrooms at The New York Times and ProPublica. Academics in fields connected to labor studies at Harvard University and public health scholars at Johns Hopkins University have cited his work in discussions of industrial food systems, while criminal justice researchers at Rutgers University and UC Berkeley have engaged with his analyses of incarceration.
Schlosser's journalism and books have earned recognition from journalism organizations including awards affiliated with The Society of Professional Journalists, honors from foundations such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Pulitzer Prize committees (as citations, nominations, or finalist acknowledgments), and prizes given by institutions like Columbia University and Harvard University. His reporting has been included on lists curated by editors at The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Time (magazine), and has been used as source material in curricula at universities including Yale University and Princeton University.
Schlosser has maintained ties to academic and cultural communities in New York City and Los Angeles, collaborating with filmmakers, scholars, and activists from institutions such as Stanford University and UCLA. He is married and has family connections that intersect with the professions of law and finance; his relatives and social circles include journalists and cultural figures who have worked at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic Monthly.
Category:American investigative journalists Category:American non-fiction writers Category:1959 births Category:Living people