"I was born into a tightly enclosed world in New Orleans where everyone knew everyone else, not just in the present but going back three or four generations. There is not a natural fit between living happily in that kind of place and spending your career investigating and then publishing your findings."
"In MFA programs, I hear, you're told to write about what you know. For me, a great appeal of being a journalist is that you can escape that dictum and turn your focus outward."
"My family owned sugarcane plantations in 19th-century Louisiana-it should be obvious why one might find it more comfortable not to investigate the details of that."
Nicholas Lemann's book, Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries, delves into his family's history, particularly focusing on his great-great-grandfather, a German Jewish emigrant in Louisiana. Lemann reflects on the themes of race, the South, and meritocracy that have influenced his family's destiny. He shares insights into his own religious journey and the complexities of being an American Jew today. His decision to investigate his family's past stems from a desire to understand the connections between personal history and broader cultural narratives.
Read at The Atlantic
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