Joe McGinniss Jr., DAMAGED PEOPLE: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Zibby chats with author Joe McGinniss Jr. about his tender and deeply moving memoir, DAMAGED PEOPLE: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons. Joe reflects on growing up as the child of bestselling author Joe McGinniss, tracing the turbulent highs of his father’s literary fame and the painful lows of his absence, compulsions, and alcoholism. He explores the complicated bonds between fathers and sons, generational trauma, addiction, brilliance, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of redemption.
Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/4rG5DVa
Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!
** If you enjoy recommending things you love and even earning from it, you have to become a creator on ShopMy! You'll be able to see that your recommendations matter. Click my referral code here to learn more! ***
** Want another secret podcast? If you sign up for my Z.I.P. Membership program, you'll get access to an exclusive podcast called Zibby's Show Notes, the behind-the-scenes of everything! Head to zibbyowens.com/subscribe to sign up.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbmedia.com and follow me on Instagram |
| 0:40.2 | at Zibby Owens. Joe McGuinness Jr. is the author of Damaged People, a memoir of fathers |
| 0:49.0 | and sons. He is also the author of Carousel Court and The Delivery Man. Joe lives in Washington, D.C. with his family. |
| 0:56.5 | Welcome. Joe, thank you so much for coming on Totally Booked, |
| 0:59.4 | to talk about damaged people, a memoir of fathers and sons. Congratulations. |
| 1:03.7 | Thanks, Lizzie. Very nice of you to have me. |
| 1:06.1 | Oh, it's my pleasure. I really enjoyed your book. It was tough at times, |
| 1:26.9 | what your dad was going through, the difficult relationship with you and your son at times, your own growth. I mean, there's a lot in here. All the ups and downs of your dad's publishing journey, all of it. There's a lot, and it was quite moving. So thank you for sharing it all. |
| 1:32.2 | Well, thank you for indulging it. It was not an easy book to write. |
| 1:32.7 | I bet. |
| 1:38.2 | Yeah. My father was, you know, he was a trailblazer. He really, he was a maverick. |
| 1:47.1 | And he just sort of started out his life knowing exactly what he wanted to do at the youngest age and did it at the highest level from out of the gate of the selling of the president. So wait, take listeners back |
| 1:53.8 | and explain who your dad was for those who weren't familiar with his work and what it was like |
| 1:58.9 | watching the ebbs and flows of his success and what |
| 2:02.4 | that did to you and your family. Oh my God. Yeah. So he was Joe McGinnis and he was a journalist |
| 2:09.0 | and he wrote a book called The Selling of the President. And it was about Richard Nixon's media |
| 2:14.4 | campaign in 1968 featuring Roger Ailes. |
| 2:21.8 | It became a New York Times bestseller, 31 weeks, number one. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Zibby Owens, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Zibby Owens and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.