About the Author: Peter Zheutlin '75
Peter Zheutlin
Current Home:
Dover, MA
Place of Birth:
Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
Education:
B.A. cum laude, Amherst College 1975; J.D. magna cum laude, Boston College Law School 1979.
Why did you choose to come to Amherst?
The college admissions process was so different back in 1970-1! We didn’t research schools the way kids (and their parents) do now. But a family friend I respected said Amherst was one of the best colleges in the country, so I applied. After being rejected by UMass (am I the only Amherst grad who can boast of that distinction?) I wasn’t encouraged about my chances of getting into Amherst. Someone in admissions apparently mistook me for another applicant and I received an acceptance letter.
Most memorable or most influential class at Amherst:
I can’t possibly name just one! See the next question.
Most memorable or most influential professor:
There are several. Alan Babb of the anthropology/sociology department was the most captivating lecturer. Time in his classes flew by. I was enthralled. Earl Latham’s wit and Socratic method of teaching was positively genius and was good preparation for law school. I enjoyed a life-long friendship with my freshman year advisor and thesis advisor, the wonderful, late Don Pitkin, who was both a mentor and friend. He was such a gentle soul. And, the brilliant and engaging Austin Sarat. I think I was a senior the year he started teaching at Amherst. So glad I didn’t miss him!
Research Interests?
This is my sixth book and you’d be hard pressed to connect any of them in any way. My wife, Judy Gelman, and I wrote The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook, an in depth look at the culinary world of the 1960s through the lens of the television show Mad Men. My first book was about an ancestor of mine, a Jewish woman from Boston, who left her husband and three young children behind in Boston to ride a bicycle around the world…in 1894. Like her, my books and interests are all over the map.
Awards and Prizes:
I have occasionally won $4 from the Massachusetts State Lottery.
Favorite Book:
William Styron’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner.”
Favorite Author:
Bill Bryson.
Tips for aspiring writers?
Writing is like walking. You put down one word after another. It’s often said, “write what you know,” but I’d say “write what you really care about, or what really interests you.” Passion for the project will carry you through the part of the work that’s drudgery, and there’s a fair amount of that.
Tell us a bit about your path to becoming an author:
I used to be a lawyer. End of story. O.K., I’ll elaborate. It only took a couple of years for me to realize that I wasn’t going to be happy working as a lawyer, so I went to work for an international non-profit working on nuclear weapons issues at the height of the Cold War, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. As the organization’s public affairs director I started writing op-ed columns and was placing a lot of them in national newspapers. I got such a kick out of it and that’s when the writing bug really took over.
Peter Zheutlin is a freelance journalist and author whose work has appeared regularly in The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor. Mr. Zheutlin has also written for The Los Angeles Times, Parade Magazine, AARP Magazine and numerous other publications in the U.S. and abroad. He is the author of Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride (Citadel Press, 2007). He is also the co-author, with Thomas B. Graboys, M.D., of Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia (Union Square Press, 2008), with Robert P. Smith, of Riches Among the Ruins: Adventures in the Dark
Corners of the Global Economy (Amacom, 2009), and, with Judith Gelman, of The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars and Restaurants of Mad Men (SmartPop/BenBella Books, 2011) and The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York: Inside the Cafes, Clubs, and Neighborhoods of HBO's Girls (SmartPop/BenBella, 2013). He resides in Massachusetts with his wife, author Judith Gelman, and has two grown sons.