The January Issue: ‘In Cold Blood’ and the Invention of True Crime

Hello, media consumers! Welcome to the January Issue. This month, Bryan and David come together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood being published by Random House. This episode is broken into four chapters, just like the nonfiction novel. Bryan and David start Chapter 1 by discussing Truman Capote himself and how he was the podcast guest before there were podcast guests (03:20). They have a conversation about who is comparable to Capote in the modern age (09:09), why nonfiction with the style of fiction hits the reader the way it does (17:22), and why Capote wanted to combine these styles (21:04). In Chapter 2, the guys dive into the relationship between Capote and the killers of the Clutter family (26:41), Capote’s journalistic good luck (31:54), and his interviewing techniques (37:21). In Chapter 3, Bryan and David talk about what they made of In Cold Blood after rereading it (1:01:51), Truman Capote’s fabulism (1:05:48), and whether In Cold Blood would have been as successful if Capote had said it was almost all true (1:12:14). In Chapter 4, Bryan and David take a look at the impact In Cold Blood has had on the media (1:14:43). They discuss In Cold Blood being the invention of true crime (1:16:06) and what the heirs of the book are (1:22:32). The January Issue ends with Bryan and David recommending other books you might like if you enjoyed reading In Cold Blood (1:30:27). All that and more, here on The Press Box.

Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Guests: Chip McGrath and Gerald Clarke
Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Bruce Baldwin