Steve Beaven
asked
Lawrence Wright:
Can you give us a sense of the breadth of research you did for this and maybe compare it to your nonfiction books? Thanks!
Lawrence Wright
Well, every nonfiction book is different so it's hard to establish a baseline. For "The Looming Tower" I spent five years and interviewed 600 people. For "God Save Texas," it was far fewer, about a hundred, I suppose. In this case, I was looking for sources who would become more like co-conspirators, letting me into their laboratories but also their minds. I would go back to some of them again and again, even to solve plot problems. I suppose there were about fifty in total.
More Answered Questions
Ric Gresh
asked
Lawrence Wright:
Since I know you have done extensive research for your book and in light of our current covid-19 virus situation, what countries do you see as having done the best job for their people in trying to curb/stop this pandemic? China started with the Wuhan total quarantine and another country, Sweden is going at this from another perspective. Any thoughts?
Irl
asked
Lawrence Wright:
Thank you for your dedication when conducting the 600 interviews for "The Looming Tower" over 5 years. I learned so much from the book. How do you push and probe for information in your interviews without leading your subject in a certain way? Do you provide questions ahead of meeting and/or follow up interviews?
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