Author Richie McGinniss discusses "Riot Diet" at Elaine's, March 29

Local DC resident and author Richie McGinniss will do a book reading and interview with Jeffrey James Higgins at Elaine’s in Old Town on Saturday, March 29 from 12 noon-3 pm.

Richie McGinniss is a fearless new breed of journalist. No political agenda. No filters. Just raw, on-the-ground video reporting of some of the most polarizing and violent unrest in American history. The chaotic history he recorded nearly got him killed, threw him into the national media spotlight, thrust him into a major trial, and made him enemies on the left and right. Plunging into both the Black Lives Matter and MAGA demonstrations, the 35-year-old McGinniss captures the pure, unvarnished truth of events that have sent shockwaves through the world, providing his audience with the access and perspective missing in mainstream news reports.

Now, McGinniss is stepping back from the mayhem and sharing his experiences in his new book due out in November, RIOT DIET, that brings readers knee-deep into the chaos he covered first-hand and provides deep insights into how the media and politicians distort the demonstrations for their own ends.

Among the highlights: McGinniss’s first full published account of the harrowing protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 when McGinniss narrowly avoided a bullet fired by Kyle Rittenhouse, then desperately tried to save the life of one of Rittenhouse’s shooting victims. McGinniss became an international media figure -- and political lightning rod – after testifying at Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

Along the way, McGinniss tells a riveting tale of journalism in the freewheeling social media age, with colorful tales of how this surfing and skateboarding fanatic fuels his need for adrenaline rushes by diving into the inner circle of protestors by any means possible, from sharing beers with Proud Boys to doobies with antifa followers.

Armed with only cellphones, McGinniss and his squad use the power of internet video to place viewers directly among the demonstrators and police. As they travel through empty airports during the height of the pandemic, the ragtag Riot Squad embeds with the most extreme demonstrators across the country.

The videos were posted to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, which provided McGinniss with a firsthand understanding of how their algorithms work. His recordings received tens of millions of views after Kenosha when he interviewed Kyle Rittenhouse 13 min before the shooting and on January 6, when he spoke with a man smoking a doobie under the Capitol Rotunda. These reports were aggregated by nearly every major national and international news outlet.

In RIOT DIET, Richie hopscotches from the Memorial Day riots in front of the White House after the death of George Floyd, to the clash of guards and Proud Boys in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), to a face-off between the umbrella gang and the NYPD in New York City’s protest in front of City Hall, to Portland’s teargas-soaked tangles between federal officers and demonstrators, and finally to the smoldering commercial districts and the deadly shootings in Kenosha.

More than just a thrilling tale of tear gas, fire, and destruction, McGinniss provides poignant and shocking untold stories of the subtle yet powerful psychological forces that send people into the street – how protestors are often motivated as much by a need for community to heal emotional wounds as they are by political causes.

From McGinniss’s ground-level perspective, there are no clear villains and heroes, no easy answers, no tidy political labels. Only messy, complicated, and profound truths.

As America grinds through another divisive election, this is the perfect time for RIOT DIET: one-part memoir, one-part political commentary, and many parts modern-day gonzo journalism, sure to infuriate believers of all political stripes ... but always captivate the reader.

https://www.elaines-restaurant.com/events/