Nuzum, Eric 1966–

PERSONAL:

Born 1966; married; wife's name Katherine.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Washington, DC.

CAREER:

National Public Radio, Washington, DC, director of programming and acquisitions.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Edward R. Murrow Award for Newswriting, Radio-Television News Directors Association, 2002.

WRITINGS:

Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America, Perennial (New York, NY), 2001.

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of the Eric Nuzum blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in 1966, Eric Nuzum has worked for National Public Radio in Washington, DC, as director of programming and acquisitions. During his radio career he worked as a producer, fundraiser, researcher, and programmer. In 2002 he received the Radio-Television News Directors Association National Edward R. Murrow Award for Newswriting. Nuzum's first book, Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America, is a history of the censorship of music and musicians in the United States. Nuzum lists artists, songs, and albums that were censored and why, showing that what was once considered risqué eventually becomes commonplace, and that music and the artists who produce it are often blamed for their influence rather than being seen as expressing ideas already commonplace to their generation.

He identifies several elements common to music censorship over the last several decades: the current adult generation believes that teenagers' music is dangerous because it is too violent, sexual, and immoral, leading to censorship of such artists as Cole Porter and Bobby Darin; there has been a recent public, violent tragedy, such as the Columbine killings, leading to political grandstanding and condemnation of musical influences; or those involved in applying censorship have no idea of the actual content of the works they are censoring. It takes very little to smear a musician and all of his or her work, Nuzum observes.

Eric Whelchel praised Parental Advisory on Blogcritics.org, writing: "The author does a nice job showing how several key characteristics of censorship have been repeated over the decades." Anticensorship activist Nina Crowley is quoted on the back cover of the book as commenting that it "should appear on the required reading list for every high school civics course." In her review for School Library Journal, Emily Lloyd admired Nuzum's calm style in writing about a subject that engenders strong feelings. She believed that Parental Advisory "is a good demonstration of how to feel passionately about a point but remain cool when one argues it."

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula is Nuzum's second book. In it he recounts how, when eating breakfast one morning, he becomes aware of the pervasiveness of vampire images and references in American culture, from the breakfast cereal he is eating to political comments he hears on the radio. This realization sends him on a quest to try to understand why and how vampires and the images and myths of vampires have become so ingrained in our culture. His journey takes him across the United States, from Oregon to California, and overseas to England and Romania. He is surprised to find out that the image of Vlad Dracula as a vampire was completely unknown to the natives of Romania, where Transylvania is located, before Communist censorship of Western publications was lifted in 1989, although this does not prevent the Romanians from exploiting the idea for tourism's sake. During his travels, Nuzum visits vampire nightclubs, goes on vampire-themed tours, attends vampire inspired conventions, and interviews self-described vampires. He watches 605 vampire movies (most of them terrible), plays the role of a vampire in a "haunted house," and even tries drinking his own blood. Along the way he meets many people who identify themselves as vampires and many who are enthralled by the idea of vampires. In the end, Nuzum concludes that vampires are a perfect cultural metaphor. "You use them to express things you fear, things you find exciting," he told David Weigel in an interview for Reason.

Reviewers found The Dead Travel Fast an enjoyable and likable book and were especially complimentary about Nuzum's informal style and humorous anecdotes and observations. In her review for School Library Journal, Paula Dacker called the book "oddly respectful as well as hilariously irreverent." A critic for Kirkus Reviews considered the book "chatty, breezy, and often hilarious."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2007, review of The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula.

Publishers Weekly, October 22, 2007, "Ghost Story," p. 8.

Reason, January 1, 2008, David Weigel, "Interview with the Vampire Expert: Eric Nuzum on Censorship, Panics, and Bloodsucking Fiends," p. 70.

School Library Journal, September 1, 2001, Emily Lloyd, review of Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America, p. 261; September 1, 2007, Paula Dacker, review of The Dead Travel Fast, p. 230.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October 1, 2001, review of Parental Advisory, p. 306.

ONLINE

Blogcritics.org,http://blogcritics.org/ (February 26, 2008) Eric Whelchel, review of Parental Advisory.

Down the Shore with Jen,http://downtheshorewithjen.blogspot.com/ (October 28, 2007) Jen A. Miller, "Down the Shore with … Eric Nuzum," author interview.

Gadling,http://www.gadling.com/ (October 31, 2007) Kelly Amabile, "Talking Travel with Eric Nuzum, Author of The Dead Travel Fast."

Largehearted Boy,http://www.largeheartedboy.com/ (October 3, 2007) author interview.

National Public Radio Web site,http://www.npr.org/ (May 22, 2008) author profile.