Logroll – Details, episodes & analysis

This is an interview with Chris Mullin about his 1986 book Error of Judgement, which was an investigation into the conviction of six innocent men for the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974. The book documents his efforts to find the truth, culminating in finding one of the real bombers.

We speak about his career in journalism before the book, when he went to Vietnam in the 1970s to cover the war there, his work for television, his political career, his novel A Very British Coup, and his series of diaries which started with his experiences as an MP during New Labour.

You can buy Chris's books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/chris-mullin

He recommended How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien which you can read here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-they-broke-britain-james-o-brien/7546135

And you can buy my books here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Could-Something-Amazing-Your-Raoul/dp/1911344323

https://www.amazon.co.uk/applaud-Either-laugh-Comedy-Cellar/dp/1911617680

Thanks for listening.

In this epsiode I interviewed Michael Holden, an exceptional writer who started his career at Loaded magazine in 1994. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital during that time, which we discuss. After that he wrote for The Guardian Guide before becoming a Hollywood writer. Then he ended up back living with his elderly parents, caring for them.

The result was a book called The Reluctant Carer, which was published in 2022. What is peculiar about it is he published it anonymously. We talk about the pros and cons of that, and why he has decided to finally put his name to it.

You can buy Michael’s book here at Bookshop. 

His original article from The Guardian in 2019, which we discuss, is here.

He recommended Going Mad in Hollywood by David Sherwin, which is at Waterstones.

And you can buy my books here at Bookshop.

Thank you for listening.

 
  

For this episode I spoke to Sam Knight about his book The Premonitions Bureau, published by Faber.

It's nonfiction, about a phsyciatrist, a journalist, and an experiment they ran for a while to see whether people could predict the future. I won't give the ending away.

You can buy Sam's book here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-premonitions-bureau-a-sunday-times-bestseller/9780571357567

The book he recommended is The Storm is Here by Luke Mogelson:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-storm-is-here-america-on-the-brink/9781529418712

And you can buy my books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode I interview Michela Wrong about her book Do Not Disturb, which is about the murder of Rwanda's former head of intelligence Patrick Karegeya.

We talked about her interviews with people who had been asked to murder Karegeya, what it was like to criticise Rwandan president Paul Kagame, and how it felt when he responded on national television. We also discussed her experience reporting on the genocide and how the book addressed journalism's ability to report on such events.

You can buy Michela's books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/michela-wrong

The book she recommended was Naples '44 by Norman Lewis:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/naples-44-an-intelligence-officer-in-the-italian-labyrinth/9780907871729

And finally is a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

After a bit of a wait, finally this is the Adam Hochschild episode. Adam teaches journalism at Berkeley, which we talk a bit about as well as some of his other books.

The focus though was King Leopold's Ghost, published in 1998, which is about Belgian's use of slavery for their rubber and ivory trade in the Congo in the 19th and 20th centuries.

We focused on how he researched the book, including his finding of long-forgotten books in libraries.

We talked a bit about Russia, so worth noting that the conversation took place a year ago, before the invasion of Ukraine.

You can buy Adam's books here: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/adam-hochschild

The book he recommended was Michael Kazin's War Against War: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/War-Against-War/Michael-Kazin/9781476705910

Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode I interviewed American journalist and lawyer Alia Malek, whose work has been published by the New York Times and New Yorker.

I spoke to her about her 2017 book The Home That Was Our Country, which is partly about moving to her grandmother's flat in Damascus from 2011 to 2013, but also about Syria.

We talked about the murder of one of her relatives when she was on a childhood visit to Syria, the disappearance of people in Damascus over the years, and the descent into war.

We also talked about how she wrote the book, not just the reportage, but also using material written by her family, interviewing her family, and researching the history of the country.

You can buy Alia's book here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-home-that-was-our-country-a-memoir-of-syria/9781568588445

The article mentioned which she recently wrote for the New York Times is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/magazine/germany-trial-syria.html

She mentioned two nonfiction books. The first was Law Versus Power by Wolfgang Kaleck (with a forward by Edward Snowden), which is here: https://bit.ly/3QgBNni

The brilliantly titled Maeve Higgins book, Tell Everyone On This Train I Love Them, is here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/tell-everyone-on-this-train-i-love-them/9780143135869

Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thank you for listening.

In this episode I talked to Jon Ronson about his book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. We covered his career leading up to the book, how he nailed down the idea, how a book deal works for an author at his level, and what the impact of the book was.

You can buy all his books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/jon-ronson

Jon also recommended Craig Brown’s book about the Beatles which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/one-two-three-four-the-beatles-in-time/9780008340032

And finally you can also buy my books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thank you for listening!

This episode I spoke to New York Times writer Jon Mooallem about his book This is Chance!

The book is about a huge but little-known earthquake in Alaska. I talked to Jon about why he chose the story, how he got so much rich material, and how people have responded to the book. We also spoke about his earlier work, including his first book, Wild Ones.

You can buy Jon's books here:

https://bookshop.org/contributors/jon-mooallem

He also recommended Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/girl-in-a-band/9780571349661

And here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Cathy Rentzenbrink about her book The Last Act of Love.

The book is about her brother, Matty, who was hit by a car, and what happened afterwards. We talked about her early attempts to write about it, her approach to memoir, and the difficulty of memory.

You can buy Cathy's books, including her new one, Write It All Down, here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/cathy-rentzenbrink

She also recommended Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/giving-up-the-ghost-a-memoir/9780007142729

Finally, here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Carl Anka, writer for the Athletic, about his book You Are A Champion, which he wrote with professional footballer Marcus Rashford. It is a book for children, so we talked about getting the tone right, as well as lots about how you get hired for a project like this, and how to balance the needs of the writer, famous co-author and publisher. It was recorded way back in summer of 2020, so some of the football references are dated.

You can buy Carl and Marcus’s book, You Are A Champion, here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/you-are-a-champion-how-to-be-the-best-you-can-be/9781529068177

He also recommended Stuff You Should Know by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/stuff-you-should-know-an-incomplete-compendium-of-mostly-interesting-things/9781409199380

Finally, here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.