Colson Whitehead on Cool Machine: Noir, New York, and Nothing Getting Better

On this episode, we’re joined by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead to discuss his latest novel, Cool Machine, the final entry in his epic crime series, The Harlem Trilogy. Charting four decades in the life of a furniture salesman who moonlights in the buying and selling of stolen goods, Whitehead draws inspiration from the stylised worlds of James Ellroy and Donald Westlake, but suffuses them with the New York social history of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. It’s also a masterclass in the history of 20th-century African American pop culture: we visit the set of a 1970s Blaxploitation film; hang out with the downtown art kids in the era of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the rise of street art; and gain insights into the lives and careers of black figures from the pre-Civil Rights era, like Jesse Owens, Lena Horne, and Sidney Poitier. Hosted by Ryan Edgington and Matt Hennessey. Produced by Lily Woods. Special thanks to Thuliswa Magwaza for production support.