He is a contributor to The New Yorker, and has also written for The Economist, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, and other publications. For his work in Russia, he has received fellowships from The American Academy in Berlin, New America, and The MacDowell Colony. He has also been a finalist for a Livingston Award, a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and received a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Prior to moving to Moscow, he worked as an associate editor at Foreign Affairs. He has also taught magazine writing at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is originally from San Diego.