A short life of the author
Jon Ronson (b. 1967) was born on 10 May 1967 in Cardiff, Wales. He studied media at City of Westminster College and has worked as a journalist, documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and screenwriter. He is a contributing writer to The Guardian and GQ.
Life and Career
Them: Adventures with Extremists (2001) — about time spent with conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and fringe groups — established his method: embedding himself in bizarre subcultures and reporting on them with sympathy, self-deprecation, and an anxious Welshman’s eye for absurdity.
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004) — about the US Army’s First Earth Battalion, which attempted to develop psychic soldiers who could walk through walls, become invisible, and kill goats by staring at them — was adapted into a 2009 film. The Psychopath Test (2011) — about Bob Hare’s psychopathy checklist and the question of whether psychopaths run the world — was a bestseller.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (2015) — about people whose lives were destroyed by social media pile-ons (Justine Sacco, Jonah Lehrer, Lindsey Stone) — was his most important book, anticipating the cancel culture debates that would dominate the next decade.
Major Works and Themes
Ronson writes about power, shame, extremism, and the gap between how people present themselves and what they actually are. His books are funny, unsettling, and ethically alert.
Key Works
- So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (2015)
- The Psychopath Test (2011)
- The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004)
Collecting Ronson
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004, Picador UK) brings $15–$40. Them (2001, Picador UK) — his debut — brings $20–$50.