In this episode, Sarah asks her father, David Maraniss, about writing biographies about figures who are alive or dead, and why it can be hard to uncover the truth when mythology, officious aides, or imperfect memory cloud it.
In this episode, Sarah asks her father, David Maraniss, about writing biographies about figures who are alive or dead, and why it can be hard to uncover the truth when mythology, officious aides, or imperfect memory cloud it. They discuss why he has already written Bill Clinton’s obituary and how he gained the trust, and diary, of Barack Obama’s post-college girlfriend. David discusses how he interviews soldiers, what stopped him from writing a biography about Billie Jean King, and what will be lost if archives become entirely digital. They finish with the one question David still hopes to ask Bill Clinton, one that goes to the heart of who he, and his father, really are.