Nathan Masters (born 1981) is a writer, Los Angeles historian, and host of '' Lost L.A.'', a public television series about Los Angeles history. He manages public programs at the

University of Southern California Libraries The libraries of the University of Southern California are among the oldest private academic research libraries in California. For more than a century USC has been building collections in support of the university's teaching and research interests ...

. In 2013, he launched a

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

subdomain titled ''Southland'' about Los Angeles history and geography. Masters grew up in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. He has hosted the public television series Lost L.A. since its conception in 2016 and has also served as a producer. The series, originally based on a series of articles he wrote for

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...

, has won multiple awards, including four Los Angeles Area Emmys and a Golden Mike. In 2019, the digital magazine Truly*Adventurous published his article "Pillars of Fire" about Los Angeles policewoman Alice Stebbins Wells and cult leader

Alma Bridwell White Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also ass ...

. Amazon Studios subsequently acquired the story, with Rachel Brosnahan attached. Masters published later another story with Truly*Adventurous about Soviet spy and FBI counterspy

Boris Morros Boris Morros (; January 1, 1891 - January 8, 1963) was an American Communist Party member, Soviet agent, and FBI double agent. He also worked at Paramount Pictures, where he produced films as well as supervising their music department. Life and c ...

. On 21 March 2023 he published his first book, titled ''Crooked: The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal'', about the

Teapot Dome scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyomin ...

and Sen.

Burton K. Wheeler Burton Kendall Wheeler (February 27, 1882January 6, 1975) was an attorney and an American politician of the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in Montana, which he represented as a United States Senate, United State ...

's investigation of Attorney Gen.

Harry Daugherty Harry Micajah Daugherty (; January 26, 1860 – October 12, 1941) was an American politician. A key Ohio Republican political insider, he is best remembered for his service as Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Warren G. Hardin ...

. Kirkus described it as "an impressive book debut with a brisk, lively history of a political scandal, 'one of those Roaring Twenties spectacles...that held the entire nation spellbound.'" The Wall Street Journal wrote that it had "all the makings of a great film plot, complete with theatrical witnesses, twists, turns and a conclusive, if slightly maddening ending." Masters started working on the book in 2019, and his research encompassed more than 3,000 pages of congressional transcripts, Justice Department records at the National Archives, and

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

requests from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

.
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External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters, Nathan 1981 births Living people American writers