Episode 91: Abbott Kahler
Abbott Kahler is the author of four books of historical narrative nonfiction. More recently, though, she wrote the story \u201cHow Sara Gruen Lost Her Life.\u201d It was published simultaneously by New York magazine and the Marshall Project.\n\nThe piece is about how Gruen, the famed author of \u201cWater for Elephants,\u201d was left broke and seriously ill after fighting for six years to free an incarcerated man who she thought was innocent.\n\nKahler and Gruen are close friends. Kahler says it was cathartic for Gruen to talk about what she had been through. The story got a lot of traction when it was published on March 24, giving more attention to the case of Charles Murdoch, the man Gruen is trying to free.\n\nThis was definitely a different type of writing and reporting for Kahler. She\u2019s made a name for herself as a New York Times best-selling author of historical narrative nonfiction. She\u2019s done so under the name of Karen Abbott, although she legally changed her name in 2020, and will now write as Abbott Kahler.\n\nHer first book, \u201cSin in the Second City,\u201d is about two sisters who ran a famous brothel in Chicago in the early 1900s. Her book \u201cLiar Temptress Soldier Spy\u201d is about four women who worked undercover during the Civil War. Her most recent book, \u201cThe Ghosts of Eden Park,\u201d is about a bootleg king in Cincinnati and a shocking murder in 1927. It was an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime book.\n\nKahler has written for the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and other publications. She also maintains the Wicked History Blog, which presents old photos and short reported pieces that describe the photos.