A memoir, a mystery, and a hard question about fathers and manhood
Based on the show notes, this episode features Michael Barbaro in conversation with writer Tom Junod about his new book and the complicated legacy of Junod’s father, Lou. It appears to explore masculinity, secrecy, and whether a flawed man can still shape fatherhood in meaningful ways.
*This is a preview based on the published show notes, not a recap of the full audio.* If you’re drawn to intimate conversations about family, identity, and the contradictions inside public and private masculinity, this episode looks especially promising. The notes frame Tom Junod as a longtime profiler of famously complicated men for magazines like *GQ* and *Esquire*—but suggest that the most important complicated man in his work may have been his own father all along. According to the description, Junod joins Michael Barbaro to discuss his book, *In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man*. The book is described as part memoir, part detective story, and a meditation on fatherhood, which hints that the episode may move between literary reflection and personal investigation. The central figure is Lou Junod: handsome, charismatic, seemingly celebrity-like, yet also secretive and mysterious. The notes suggest those secrets continued to shape Tom Junod’s life, making this more than a biographical portrait. It sounds like the conversation may ask how a father’s allure, flaws, and hidden history can influence a son’s understanding of manhood. This episode may be a good fit if you like author interviews that connect a new book to larger questions—especially about fathers, sons, and the stories families tell or withhold. If you’re expecting a straightforward literary chat, the show notes suggest something more personal and emotionally layered.
About this episode
<p>The writer Tom Junod has spent a career crafting profiles for men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire, often of famously complicated men like Norman Mailer, Kevin Spacey and Tony Curtis.</p> <p>But another man loomed behind Junod’s interest in these figures, informing his own sense of masculinity and manhood: his father, Lou.</p> <p>Lou Junod was handsome, charismatic — a man who seemed like a celebrity, even though he wasn’t famous. He was also mysterious, a keeper of secrets that have continued to reverberate through his son’s life.</p> <p>On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro talks with Junod about his new book, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/books/review/in-the-days-of-my-youth-i-was-told-what-it-means-to-be-a-man-tom-junod.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man,</a>” which is part memoir and part detective story, as well as a powerful meditation on fatherhood.</p> <p><strong>On Today’s Episode:</strong></p> <p><strong>Tom Junod</strong> is the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/89092/in-the-days-of-my-youth-i-was-told-what-it-means-to-be-a-man-by-tom-junod/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man.”</a></p> <p><strong>Background Reading:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/style/tom-junod-would-like-to-tell-you-about-his-father.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tom Junod Would Like to Tell You About His Father</a></p> <p>Art: Lou Junod with baby Tom in 1958.</p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>