I’m a writer and editor in New York. I’m working on a book about ketamine and dissociative anesthetics for Farrar, Straus and Giroux. If you’ve had an experience with ketamine, PCP, or nitrous oxide that you’d like to talk about, please be in touch.
I’m currently the New Books columnist for Harper’s.
With Tom O’Neill, I cowrote CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties (Little, Brown), a New York Times best-seller. An excerpt appeared on The Intercept.
I collaborated with Prince on his memoir, The Beautiful Ones (Spiegel & Grau). A #1 New York Times best-seller, the book was named one of the best of the year by The Washington Post and The Guardian. An excerpt of my introduction appeared in The New Yorker.
From 2014 to 2017, I was the web editor at The Paris Review.
You can reach me at piepenbring@protonmail.com.
Recent work
June 2024
“New Books,” (Public relations, refrigeration, spycraft) Harper’sMay 2024
“New Books,” (Fatherhood, thalidomide, against death) Harper’s
“How a Broadway Theater Was Remade Into a Queer Cabaret,” T: The New York Times Style MagazineApril 2024
“New Books,” (Insanity, hypochondria, preachers in the bedroom) Harper’sMarch 2024
“New Books,” (Funeral homes, nuns, giving up) Harper’sFebruary 2024
“New Books,” (Billionaires, heartbreak, the FBI) Harper’sJanuary 2024
“Heritage 2000,” n+1
“New Books,” (Meth, Mormons, Guy Davenport) Harper’sDecember 2023
“New Books,” (Scandal at the divinity school) Harper’sNovember 2023
“New Books,” (UFOs, forms of address) Harper’sOctober 2023
“New Books,” (Children killing parents, parents killing children) Harper’sSeptember 2023
“New Books,” (Cowboys, guns, Hollywood) Harper’sAugust 2023
“New Books,” (Freud, fraud, horny astronomers) Harper’sJuly 2023
“You May Not Have Asked; He Answered Anyway,” The New York Times Book ReviewFebruary 2023
“How to Know if You’re a Hacker, and Other Life Hacks,” The New York Times Book Review
“National Treasure” nominated for a National Magazine Award in Reviews and CriticismNovember 2022
“The 25 Travel Experiences You Must Have,” T: The New York Times Style MagazineSeptember 2022
“Painting the Town Blood-Red,” The New York Times Book Review
“How Ivo van Hove Turns a Novel into a Play,” T: The New York Times Style MagazineJune 2022
“Werner Herzog’s Wondrous Novel of Nothingness in the Jungle,” The New YorkerApril 2022
“The Confounding Politics of Camping in America,” The New YorkerFebruary 2022
“National Treasure,” (On Nicolas Cage) Harper’sDecember 2021
“The 25 Essential Dishes to Eat in New York City,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine
June 2021
“Anatomy of a Hoax,” The Paris Review Daily
March 2021
“The Romantic Partners of Exotic Dancers,” The New Yorker
February 2021
“The Most Exciting Time in the History of World to Be Alive,” n+1