Koulouras 1
Thea Koulouras
Girardi
English 1A
8 March 2018
Analyzing the source A lesson in Malcolm Gladwell
Biography
Gladwell was born in 1963 in England, but he was raised in Canada. His parents Graham
and Joyce Gladwell. Dad was a British mathematics professor and Mom, a Jamaican
psychotherapist. In 1982 when Malcolm was about 19 , he interned at the National Journalism
Center in Washington, D.C. Two years after that, he graduated from the University of Toronto’s
Trinity College with a degree in history. His grades were not good enough for him to attend
graduate school, which is a division of a school offering advanced programs beyond the
bachelor’s degree. Malcolm the decided he was going to try to make a career in advertising. He
ended up not being accepted into any advertising agency. So he moved out to Indiana where he
was offered a position at The American Spectator
which is is a conservative U.S. monthly
magazine covering news and politics. Gladwell also at this time was beginning to write for
Insight on the News
which was another conservative magazine. When he was 24, Malcolm’s
name was appearing on The Washington Post
where he was covering business and science. He
worked at The Washington Post for 9 years the he shifted to The New Yorker
. At the New yorker
he was supposed to write a piece on fashion. He decided to take this piece but add a unusual
twist. Malcolm wrote about low priced T-shirts rather than the high class fashion that is always
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being written about. This piece became popular with both the readers and two articles called The
Tipping Point and The Coolhunt. It is because of this piece Malcolm wrote the book The Tipping
point, which made him about one million dollars. From then on Malcolm continued to write and
write, many of his books become New York Best Sellers. Gladwell has received a great many
awards including; the American Sociological Association’s first Award for Excellence, an
honorary degree from University of Waterloo, and most recently Gladwell was appointed to the
order of Canada which i the cornerstone of the Canadian Honours System, and recognizes
outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
List of things Gladwell has written
– Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
– The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
