Tom Folsom is a writer living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He is best known as the author of a bestselling biography of

Crazy Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and Caporegime of the Colombo crime family of New York City. In his youth, Gallo was diagnosed with schizophrenia after an arrest. He so ...

, ''The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld''. On March 5, 2013, the It Books imprint of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

published Folsom's definitive biography on Dennis Hopper, ''Hopper: A Journey into the American Dream'', charting the actor's wide-ranging career and place in American popular culture in art, music, photography and film.

Background and education

Folsom graduated from the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 1996 with a degree in journalism. He also attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Books

Folsom's book, ''The Mad Ones'', was published by Weinstein Books on May 5, 2009 and became a

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

bestseller. In 2009 the audio book of ''The Mad Ones'' was released. Folsom, according to

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, “deftly invokes a wacky world and the kind of characters celebrated by Jack Kerouac.” The title comes from the Jack Kerouac quote, “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn.” He is the co-author of a biography of drug-kingpin Leroy Barnes, ''Mr. Untouchable: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don'', written with its subject in

Witness Protection Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

Journalism

His documentaries have appeared at Sundance, on A&E and

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. He has also appeared on

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folsom, Tom 1974 births Living people American male writers