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John McPhee: A Reporter's Reporter

<strong>Web Extra:</strong> Hear a 1978 NPR Interview with John McPhee

John McPhee has written at length about fish, geology, oranges, nuclear power, basketball... and the list goes on.

At 75, the prolific journalist feels he has plenty of words, characters and subjects left to explore. He has already published 27 works of non-fiction. His long pieces in The New Yorker are treasured by his many fans.

A shy man, McPhee shuns most interviews and doesn't much like having his photo taken. But he connects deeply with his subjects. His latest book is Uncommon Carriers, a collection of stories about freight... and like all of McPhee's best work, about the people involved with sorting it, flying it, floating it and trucking it.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Howard Berkes is a correspondent for the NPR Investigations Unit.