Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''

The Men Who Stare at Goats ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004) is a non-fiction work by Jon Ronson concerning the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal. The title refers to attempts to kill goats by staring ...

'' (2004), and '' The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been described as a gonzo journalist, becoming a '' faux-naïf'' character in his stories. He produces informal but sceptical investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in publications such as ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', '' City Life'' and '' Time Out''. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Early life

Ronson was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, on 10 May 1967. He attended

Cardiff High School Cardiff High School ( cy, Ysgol Uwchradd Caerdydd) is a comprehensive school in the Cyncoed area of Cardiff, Wales. Stephen Jones has been Headteacher since 2011. It has been rated as Excellent for current performance and Excellent for prospect ...

and later worked for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

in Cardiff, before moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to study for a media degree at the Polytechnic of Central London.Nathan Bevan
Who is Jon Ronson?
WalesOnline.co.uk, retrieved 13 June 2011.

Career

Writing

Ronson's first book, ''Clubbed Class'' (1994), is a travelogue in which he bluffs his way into a

jet set In journalism, jet set is a term for an international social group of wealthy people who travel the world to participate in social activities unavailable to ordinary people. The term, which replaced "café society", came from the lifestyle of tra ...

lifestyle, in search of the world's finest holiday. His second book, '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), chronicles his experiences with people labelled as

extremists Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

. Subjects featured in the book include

David Icke David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries. In 1990, Icke ...

Randy Weaver Randall Claude Weaver (January 3, 1948 – May 11, 2022) was an American survivalist, former Iowa factory worker, and self-proclaimed white separatist. He was a central actor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff at his cabin near Naples, Idaho, t ...

Omar Bakri Muhammad Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and headin ...

, Ian Paisley,

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...

, and Thomas Robb. Ronson also follows independent investigators of secretive groups such as the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

. The narrative tells of Ronson's attempts to infiltrate the "shadowy cabal" fabled, by these

conspiracy theorists A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

, to rule the world. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' noted: "It is how he reveals the all-too-real machinations of Western society's radical fringe and its various minions that makes this enjoyable work rather remarkable." The book was described by

Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduating fro ...

as a "funny and compulsively readable

picaresque The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...

adventure through a paranoid shadow world." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine announced in September 2005 that ''Them'' had been purchased by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

for a feature film. Ronson contributed the memoir "A Fantastic Life" to the

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

anthology ''Truth or Dare'', in 2004. Ronson's third book, ''

'' (2004), deals with the secret

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

unit within the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

called the

First Earth Battalion The First Earth Battalion was the name proposed by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon, a U.S. soldier who had served in Vietnam, for his idea of a new military of supersoldiers to be organized along New Age lines. A book of the same name was published ...

. Ronson investigates people such as Major General

Albert Stubblebine Albert "Bert" Newton Stubblebine III (February 6, 1930 – February 6, 2017) was a United States Army major general whose active duty career spanned 32 years. Beginning as an armor officer, he later transferred to intelligence. He is credited wi ...

III, former head of intelligence, who believed that people can walk through walls with the right mental preparation, and that goats can be killed simply by staring at them. Much was based on the ideas of Lt. Col.

Jim Channon James B. Channon (September 20, 1939- September 10, 2017) was a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, New Age futurologist, and business consultant. He was primarily known for authoring the ''First Earth Battalion Operations Manual'' (1979, and later edit ...

, ret., who wrote the ''First Earth Battalion Operations Manual'' in 1979, inspired by the emerging

Human Potential Movement The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...

of California. The book suggests that these New Age military ideas mutated over the decades to influence interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. An eponymous film of the book was released in 2009, in which Ronson's investigations were fictionalised and structured around a journey to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Ronson is played by the actor

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

in the film. Ronson's fourth book, '' Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness'' (2006;

and

Guardian Books ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

), is a collection of his ''Guardian'' articles, mostly those concerning his domestic life. A companion volume was ''What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness'' (2007). '' The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry'' (2011) is Ronson's fifth book. In it, he explores the nature of

psychopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...

ic behaviour, learning how to apply the

Hare Psychopathy Checklist The Psychopathy Checklist or Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, now the Psychopathy Checklist—revised (PCL-R), is a psychological assessment tool that is commonly used to assess the presence and extent of the personality trait psychopathy in ...

, and investigating its reliability. He interviews people in facilities for the criminally insane as well as potential psychopaths in corporate boardrooms. The book's findings have been rejected by The Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy and by Robert D. Hare, creator of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. Hare described the book as "frivolous, shallow, and professionally disconcerting". '' Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries'' (2012), Ronson's sixth book, is a collection of previously published articles by him. Ronson's book ''

So You've Been Publicly Shamed ''So You've Been Publicly Shamed'' is a 2015 book by British journalist Jon Ronson about online shaming and its historical antecedents. The book explores the re-emergence of public shaming as an Internet phenomenon, particularly on Twitter. As a ...

'' (2015) concerns the effects of

public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...

in the internet age.

Radio

Ronson's main radio work is the production and presentation of a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme, ''Jon Ronson on...'' The programme has been nominated for a

Sony award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

four times. In August 2008, Radio 4 aired "

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side", a documentary by Jon Ronson about pop star Williams' fascination with

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

s and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

. In the early 1990s, Ronson was offered the position of sidekick on

Terry Christian Terence Christian (born 8 May 1960) is a British broadcaster, journalist and author. He has presented several national television series in the UK including Channel 4's late night entertainment show '' The Word'' (1990–1995) and six series o ...

's Show on

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

radio station KFM. Ronson also co-presented a KFM show with

Craig Cash Craig Cash (born 11 September 1960)
Retrie ...

, who went on to write and perform in ''

The Royle Family ''The Royle Family'' is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, com ...

'' and ''

Early Doors ''Early Doors'' is a BBC sitcom written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey. Both writers appear in the series, playing the two characters of 'Joe' and 'Duffy' who are best friends. ''Early Doors'' is set at The Grapes, a small public house in the ...

''. Ronson contributes to Public Radio International in the United States, particularly the program ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''. , he has contributed segments to 13 episodes including "Them" (#201), "Naming Names" (#211), "Family Physics" (#214), "Habeas Schmabeas" (#310), "It's Never Over" (#314), "The Spokesman" (#338), "Pro Se" (#385), "First Contact" (#411), "The Psychopath Test" (#436), "Secret Identity" (#506), "Tarred and Feathered" (#522), "To Be Real" (#620), "Beware the Jabberwock" (#670). Ronson hosted and wrote the podcast ''The Butterfly Effect'', which was released in November 2017 by

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

and was made subsequently available on other podcasting platforms. The show focuses on internet pornography, and

Fabian Thylmann Fabian Thylmann (born 5 June 1978) is a businessman from Germany who was founder and managing partner of the Internet pornography conglomerate Manwin (now MindGeek). In October 2013, he sold his stake in the company, which was at the time the la ...

and

PornHub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...

's effect on the industry. Ronson subsequently also hosted and wrote the podcast ''The Last Days of August'', released in January 2019. It focuses on the 2017 death of pornographic actress

August Ames August Ames (born Mercedes Grabowski; 23 August 1994 – 5 December 2017) was a Canadian pornographic actress. She appeared in more than 100 films, including a non-pornographic film in 2016, and was nominated for several AVN Awards. In 2017, at ...

. Ronson returned to the BBC in 2021 with ''Things Fell Apart'': a podcast on the

Culture Wars A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...

for BBC Sounds in a similar format to his previous efforts for Amazon.

Music

In the late 1980s, Ronson replaced Mark Radcliffe as the

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical ins ...

for the

Frank Sidebottom Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

band for a number of performances. Ronson was the manager of the

indie band Man From Delmonte.

Television

Ronson presented the late nineties talk show ''For the Love of...'', in which each week he would interview a gathering of guests and experts on different phenomena and conspiracy theories. Ronson has also appeared as a guest on various shows, including '' Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled''.

Films

Ronson sold the

film rights A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

to ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'', and subsequently a film of the same name was released in 2009 as a comedy

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Grant Heslov Grant Heslov (born May 15, 1963) is an American actor and filmmaker known for his producing and writing collaborations with George Clooney, which have earned him four Oscar nominations. As a co-producer of ''Argo'' (2012), he received the Academ ...

and written by

Peter Straughan Peter Straughan (born 1968) is a British playwright, screenwriter and author, based in the north-east of England. He was writer-in-residence at Newcastle's Live Theatre Company. Whilst there, Live staged his plays, ''Bones'' and ''Noir''. Both o ...

. According to Ronson's DVD-commentary, the journalist-character Bob Wilton (

) did experience some elements of Ronson's self-recounted story from the book. However, unlike Ronson, Wilton was an American from Ann Arbor. Also, unlike Ronson, Wilton went to Iraq. In the process of visiting the set during the shoot, Ronson began a collaborative writing project with Straughan.''The Men Who Stare at Goats'', DVD commentary by Jon Ronson. OV 21370.

Overture Films Overture Films was an American film production and distribution company and a subsidiary of Starz (then subsidiary of Liberty Media). It was founded in November 2006 by Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett. Through its affiliated companies Anchor Bay E ...

, US. 2009. This was the screenplay for ''

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

'', a 2014

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

inspired in part by Ronson's time in

's band. With Bong Joon-ho, Ronson wrote the screenplay for the 2017 Netflix film ''

Okja ''Okja'' (; ) is a 2017 science-fantasy action-adventure film directed by Bong Joon-ho with a screenplay by Bong and Jon Ronson from a story by Bong. The film is about a young girl who raised a genetically modified "super pig" (the titular Okja) ...

''.

Personal life

Ronson and his wife Elaine have one son. Ronson is Jewish_and_calls_himself_a_"distinguished_supporter"_of_Humanists_UK._He_is_a_fan_of_the_football_team_Arsenal_F.C..html" "title="Humanists_UK.html" ;"title="Jewish and calls himself a "distinguished supporter" of Humanists UK">Jewish and calls himself a "distinguished supporter" of Humanists UK. He is a fan of the football team Arsenal F.C.">Arsenal FC Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (incl ...

Early life

Career

Writing

Radio

Music

Television

Films

Personal life

Works

Books

Filmography

References

External links