This week on the show, I’m joined by my son, Glenn Loury II. I wanted to have him back on TGS to discuss Late Admissions and get his perspective on the events that I write about in the book. Glenn II, after all, was there for many of these events, including, of course, the joyful occasion of his birth, which accompanied my own spiritual rebirth after my emergence from drug addiction.
I wanted this conversation to extend the book’s commitment to thinking and speaking as honestly as possible about my life. Though I go to great lengths to persuade readers of Late Admissions that I am truthfully disclosing the incidents, thoughts, and feelings that comprise my life, I am still the author. I determine what goes in and what stays out. I knew that if I invited Glenn II to speak honestly about our relationship and how he viewed the things I’d done—especially the less-than-admirable things—he would speak the truth as he saw it, even if that truth was unflattering to me.
As some of you know, my relationship with my own father, Everett Loury, ended on a sour note. At the time of his death, neither Glenn II nor I were on speaking terms with him. It is one of my great regrets that I did not get to say the things to him that I wanted to say and that he could not say the things to me that I wish he would have. I won’t allow that to happen again. And so in that spirit, I present this conversation with my son, Glenn Loury II.
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0:00 Glenn II returns to The Glenn Show
2:17 Glenn II: Dad, you’re not really a “conservative” in the present-day sense of the term
13:20 Glenn and Glenn II agree that the “systemic racism” argument is overblown but disagree over what to do about it
22:04 What social conditions lead to the kind of behavior Glenn often condemns?
31:36 The luck and privilege that allowed Glenn to recover from his mistakes
39:19 Glenn II: “I found myself getting angry at someone who doesn’t exist anymore”
46:59 The conversation Glenn never had with his father
51:06 What Late Admissions taught Glenn II about his father
57:32 Grace in the face of public scandal
1:01:28 Love, death, and the Lourys
Recorded June 15, 2024
Links and Readings
Glenn’s essay, “Self-Censorship in a Time of War”
Scenes from The Wire, Season 4
Glenn and Glenn II’s September 2018 Bloggingheads conversation
Glenn II’s book, Invisible Funerals: A Tale of Nine Burials
Glenn II’s book, Love Letters & Elegies: Tales from Beyond the Pale
Glenn II’s book, What Death Can Touch
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