Lesley M. M. Blume is an award-winning journalist, historian, and ''New York Times'' bestselling author.

Early Life and Education

Blume was born in New York City in 1975. She holds a B.A. in history from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

and earned her graduate degree in historical studies from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where she was a Herchel Smith scholar.

Career

Blume began her career in television news, as a researcher for Cronkite Productions and then a researcher and off-air reporter for ABC News ''Nightline'' with Ted Koppel. Now writing full-time
her work
has appeared in ''Vanity Fair, The New York Times, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, WSJ Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Vogue, Town & Country, The Hollywood Reporter, Slate, The Los Angeles Review of Books,'' and ''The Paris Review Daily'', among other publications. Blume often writes about historical nuclear events, historical war journalism, and the intersection of war and the arts. He
2021 ''National Geographic'' feature on Trinity Test downwinders
was recently featured a
congressional hearings on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA)
and admitted into Congressional Record. She serves as an advisory board member for Outrider Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports journalism about nuclear issues and climate change.

Books

Blume is the author of, most recently, �
Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World
” about war correspondent

John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to n ...

’s experience reporting the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which ''The New York Times'' recognized as one of the "100 Notable Books of 2020." "Fallout
won the 2021 Sperber Prize
and was also cited as a best book of 2020 by ''Vanity Fair, Publishers Weekly'', and other publications. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Her previous major non-fiction book,
Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece 'The Sun Also Rises'
was released in 2016 to coincide with the 90th anniversary of ''Sun''‘s 1926 release. The book was a ''Washington Post'' notable book of 2016, an Amazon’s Editor’s Pick: Best Biographies and Memoirs, and became a ''New York Times'' best seller. Blume’s early nonfiction books include "Let's Bring Back" (2010), "Let's Bring Back: The Cocktail Edition" (2012) and "Let's Bring Back: The Lost Language Edition." (2013). She is also the author of "It Happened Here" (Thornwillow Press, 2011), a book detailing the raucous social history of New York City’s St. Regis Hotel. The book was the inaugural volume of Thornwillow’s “Libretto series,” which showcases the work of literary lions past and present, including Peter Matthiessen, Adam Gopnik, and Lewis Lapham. For young readers, Blume has authored four novels
all published by Knopf
Her debut children’s novel, "Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters," has sold over 300,000 copies. Blume’s first collection of short stories for children, "Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties," was released in 2010; her second collection – "The Wondrous Journals of Wendell Wellington Wiggins" – debuted in 2012. Knopf released her most recent children’s novel – "Julia and the Art of Practical Travel" – in 2015.

Works

* ''Everybody Behaves Badly,'' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016. * ''Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World,'' Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 2020. * ''Let's Bring Back'' (2010), * ''It Happened Here'' Thornwillow Press, 2011.

Early Life and Education

Career

Books

Works

References

External links