‘Bou HQ: Author Jack El-Hai went from Uptown Caribou to Hollywood

‘Bou HQ: Jack, you’re a long-time resident of Uptown Minneapolis. Has this always been home?

Jack El-Hai: I’ve been here a long time, but I grew up in Los Angeles. I came out here to go to school at Carleton and fell in love with two things: the area and writing. The Twin Cities is a great community for writers, artists and creatives. I had started writing fiction during college and afterwards, but then a classmate and friend got a job at Minneapolis St Paul magazine. She encouraged me to write for the magazine – and that’s how this all began. I wrote for other local magazines as a journalist and by the 1990s was contributing to national media too. 

‘Bou HQ: How and when did you make the jump to focus on writing books?

Jack: The book I’m working on now – after many others – is the first I’ve been able to focus on full time. Like many working writers, we’re juggling projects and interests, and in the early days, paying the bills with what we do. The success of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist and its recent adaptation into the movie Nuremberg helped with that, of course. 

‘Bou HQ: You spent nearly twenty years writing inside one Caribou. What made that coffeehouse such a meaningful part of your creative process?

Jack: I lived within walking distance of the Caribou at 24th and Hennepin, so it became the natural center of my workday. I’d arrive around nine or nine-thirty, settle in at a table I liked, and write until just before lunch. Over time I got to know the staff and many of the regulars. There was a sense of community even though everyone was doing their own thing. I probably wrote three quarters of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist in that Caribou.

‘Bou HQ: You’re famous for doing meticulous research into the topics and subjects for your books. Tell us how did you get the idea for this book in particular?

Jack: While researching another book, I learned about the story of Dr. Douglas Kelley—the psychiatrist in what would later become my book. He was the psychiatrist tasked with assessing Hermann Goering’s mental state to stand trial. I had learned that he had left about fifteen boxes of materials, and they were sitting untouched for decades. I contacted his oldest son, visited him, and found he kept the boxes in his basement. I knew right away that this goldmine could be the basis of a compelling book. Typically, I begin by writing an article to test the idea, and I did that here too—and started work on an article for Scientific American Mind in 2011. 

‘Bou HQ: And then there was the long journey from book to film. What was that like?

Jack: Long, unpredictable, but ultimately very fulfilling. I sent the article to a production company that had optioned my previous book, The Lobotomist. One of the partners, James Vanderbilt, read it and wanted to adapt it immediately. He started writing drafts almost right away. Then the original production company dissolved, and years passed with no movement. I saw four different drafts along the way over the years. Things only reignited when James partnered with Bluestone in 2023. Suddenly the project came together quickly. Watching the finished film, Nuremberg, for the first time felt both thrilling and otherworldly. It’s remarkable to see another creative take on something you wrote and what is built from it. Plus, the finished film is factual enough to convey the heart of the story I had written, which meant a lot to me.