He has been described as a gonzo journalist,[1] becoming a faux-naïf character in his stories.[2] He produces informal but sceptical investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, City Life and Time Out. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for Channel 4.
Ronson gained fame writing a column for Time Out, consisting of a series of challenges he set himself. He later adapted this into a television series, The Ronson Mission, for BBC2 in 1993.[4]
Ronson's first book, Clubbed Class (1994), is a travelogue in which he bluffs his way into a jet set lifestyle, in search of the world's finest holiday.[5]
Ronson contributed the memoir "A Fantastic Life" to the Picador anthology Truth or Dare, in 2004.[11]
Ronson's third book, The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004), deals with the secret New Age unit within the United States Army called the First Earth Battalion. Ronson investigates people such as Major General Albert Stubblebine III, former head of intelligence, who believed that people can walk through walls with the right mental preparation, and that goats can be killed simply by staring at them. Much was based on the ideas of Lt. Col. Jim Channon, ret., who wrote the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual in 1979, inspired by the emerging Human Potential Movement of California. The book suggests that these New Age military ideas mutated over the decades to influence interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. An eponymous film of the book was released in 2009, in which Ronson's investigations were fictionalised and structured around a journey to Iraq. Ronson is played by the actor Ewan McGregor in the film.[12]
Ronson's fourth book, Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness (2006; Picador and Guardian Books), is a collection of his Guardian articles, mostly those concerning his domestic life. A companion volume was What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness (2007).[13][14]
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry (2011) is Ronson's fifth book. In it, he explores the nature of psychopathic behaviour, learning how to apply the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and investigating its reliability. He interviews people in facilities for the criminally insane as well as potential psychopaths in corporate boardrooms.[15][16] The book's findings have been rejected by The Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy and by Robert D. Hare, creator of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.[17][18] Hare described the book as "frivolous, shallow, and professionally disconcerting".[18]
Ronson's main radio work is the production and presentation of a BBC Radio 4 programme, Jon Ronson on...[21] The programme has been nominated for a Sony award four times.[22] In August 2008, Radio 4 aired "Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side", a documentary by Jon Ronson about pop star Williams' fascination with UFOs and the paranormal.[23]
Ronson contributes to Public Radio International in the United States, particularly the program This American Life. As of 2021[update], he has contributed segments to 13 episodes including "Them" (#201), "Naming Names" (#211), "Family Physics" (#214), "Habeas Schmabeas" (#310), "It's Never Over" (#314), "The Spokesman" (#338), "Pro Se" (#385), "First Contact" (#411), "The Psychopath Test" (#436), "Secret Identity" (#506), "Tarred and Feathered" (#522), "To Be Real" (#620), "Beware the Jabberwock" (#670).[26]
Ronson hosted and wrote the podcast The Butterfly Effect, which was released in November 2017 by Audible and was subsequently made available on other podcasting platforms.[27] The show concerns internet pornography, and Fabian Thylmann and PornHub's effect on the industry. Ronson subsequently also hosted and wrote the podcast The Last Days of August, released in January 2019.[28] Its subject is the 2017 death of pornographic actress August Ames.
Ronson returned to the BBC in 2021 with Things Fell Apart: a podcast on the culture wars for BBC Sounds in a similar format to his previous works for Amazon.[29]
Ronson presented the late nineties talk show For the Love of...,[32] in which each week he would interview a gathering of guests and experts on different phenomena and conspiracy theories.[33] Ronson has also appeared as a guest on various shows, including Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled.[34]
Films
Ronson sold the film rights to The Men Who Stare at Goats, and subsequently a film of the same name was released in 2009 as a comedy war film directed by Grant Heslov and written by Peter Straughan. According to Ronson's DVD-commentary, the journalist-character Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) did experience some elements of Ronson's self-recounted story from the book. However, unlike Ronson, Wilton was an American from Ann Arbor. Also, unlike Ronson, Wilton went to Iraq.[35]
In the process of visiting the set during the shoot, Ronson began a collaborative writing project with Straughan.[35] This was the screenplay for Frank, a 2014 black comedy inspired in part by Ronson's time in Frank Sidebottom's band.[36]
With Bong Joon-ho, Ronson wrote the screenplay for the 2017 Netflix film Okja.[37]
^Relative to the Gonzo characterization: 1) Ronson, Jon, 'I've gotta get my elephant tusks back', The Guardian, 22 February 2005. The article subtitle read in part: "... Hunter S. Thompson created a new style of writing – gonzo – and a generation of followers. Jon Ronson explains why he became one of them"; the article was written the day after Thompson's death by suicide; Ronson himself in the article does not lay claim to the term to describe himself; and 2) ____, James, Ffresh 2011 Programme Goes Live"Archived 22 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, website for Ffresh: Student Moving Image Festival of Wales, 13 January 2011. "Highlights include sessions with … gonzo journalist Jon Ronson ...." Both retrieved 17 February 2011.
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