Paul Alexander

Paul Alexander (born 1955) is a political writer, playwright, and former talk radio host. He has authored several biographies and was the co-host of the Batchelor and Alexander radio program on New York's WABC radio from 2001 to 2003.

Writing

A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Alexander is a former reporter for Time magazine and Rolling Stone. He has also written nonfiction for the New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, and The Village Voice. He was a fellow at the Hoover Institution in the fall of 2002. [http://www.hoover.org/bios/mediafellows?year=0000&c=y]

Alexander is the editor of "Ariel Ascending: Writings About Sylvia Plath". He has written biographies on Plath, James Dean, J.D. Salinger, and John McCain. His most recent book is "Machiavelli’s Shadow", about the career of political consultant Karl Rove.

Broadcasting

Alexander and John Batchelor began broadcasting "Batchelor and Alexander" on WABC in New York on the night after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. ABC News asked the pair to host the show until Osama bin Laden was either killed or captured. [http://www.johnbatchelorshow.com/about.cfm] On September 8, 2001, John Batchelor and Paul Alexander were broadcasting on WABC radio under a show name different from their subsequent, formal program; the September 8 show was a serious discussion on both Al-Qaeda and the unanswered U.S. government response to the USS Cole bombing [http://www.emergency.com/2002/ERRI_9-1.pdf] .

Batchelor and Alexendar began first as a Sunday and then later as a Saturday evening show on WABC. The Saturday show started in the summer of 2001, basically to discuss conspiracies. The first show featured the JFK assaination. A subsequent show, discussed the conspiracy surrounding the downing of TWA Flight 800.

The Jerusalem Post has an audio archive of "Batchelor and Alexander" segments from 2002 and 2003 that deal with Israel and the Middle East. [http://info.jpost.com/C002/Supplements/AmericasVoices/ba_01.html]

Alexander left the show in December 2003 to pursue work as a playwright.

Theatre

Alexander is the author of the plays "Strangers in the Land of Canaan" and "Edge," a one-woman show based on his Sylvia Plath biography. He also directed "Edge" and developed it at the Actors Studio with the actress Angelica Torn.

Bibliography

* "Ariel Ascending: Writings about Sylvia Plath" (1985) (ISBN 978-0060153335)
* "Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath" (1991) (ISBN 978-0670818129)
* "Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean" (1994) (ISBN 978-0670849512)
* "Death and Disaster: The Rise of Warhol's Empire and the Race for Andy's Millions" (1994) (ISBN 978-0679432739)
* "Salinger: A Biography" (1999) (ISBN 978-1580630801)
* "Man of the People: The Life of John McCain" (2002) (ISBN 978-0471228295)
* "The Candidate: Behind John Kerry's Remarkable Run for the White House" (2004) (ISBN 978-1573222938)
* "Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove" (2008) (ISBN 978-1594868252)