Peter Richardson

Peter Richardson has written critically acclaimed books about author and editor Carey McWilliams, Ramparts magazine, the Grateful Dead, Hunter S. Thompson, and Rolling Stone magazine. Richardson's essays have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many other outlets. His commentary has been featured in major newspapers and magazines in North America and abroad, and he has appeared in many documentary films, radio programs, and podcasts. A busy book reviewer, Richardson received the National Entertainment Journalism Award for Online Criticism in 2013. Richardson has taught courses on California culture at San Francisco State University, served on the board of directors of the Bay Area Book Festival, and organized panels on history, music, politics, journalism, and sports. In the 1990s, Richardson was an associate professor of English at the University of North Texas, a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Iceland, and an NEH Summer Seminar fellow at Harvard University. Before that, he earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Born and raised in the East Bay, he now lives in Sonoma County.