Author Brian Raftery joins the Capes and Tights Podcast for Episode 265 on January 28, 2026. To prepare for the conversation, we have compiled three books by Raftery you should read!
Raftery is a journalist, podcaster, and author. His works include the books Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen (2019) and the upcoming Hannibal Lecter: A Life (2026), both published by Simon & Schuster. He also wrote and hosted the narrative podcasts Mission Accomplished, The Hollywood Hack, Do We Get to Win this Time?, and Gene & Roger, all produced by Spotify and The Ringer.
He is a former senior writer for Wired, Brian’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, GQ, The Ringer, and New York, among several other publications.
Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
In 1999, Hollywood as we know it exploded: Fight Club. The Matrix. Office Space. Election. The Blair Witch Project. The Sixth Sense. Being John Malkovich. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. American Beauty. The Virgin Suicides. Boys Don’t Cry. The Best Man. Three Kings. Magnolia.
Those are just some of the landmark titles released in a dizzying movie year, one in which a group of daring filmmakers and performers pushed cinema to new limits—and took audiences along for the ride. Freed from the restraints of budget, technology, or even taste, they produced a slew of classics that took on every topic imaginable, from sex to violence to the end of the world. The result was a highly unruly, deeply influential set of films that would not only change filmmaking, but also give us our first glimpse of the coming twenty-first century. It was a watershed moment that also produced The Sopranos; Apple’s AirPort; Wi-Fi; and Netflix’s unlimited DVD rentals.
Don’t Stop Believin’: How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life
Armed with a keen eye and a terrible singing voice, writer Brian Raftery sets out across the globe, tracing karaoke’s evolution from cult fad to multi-million dollar phenomenon. In Japan, he meets Daisuke Inoue, the godfather of karaoke; in Thailand, he follows a group of Americans hoping to win the Karaoke World Championships; and in New York City, he hangs out backstage with the world’s longest-running heavy-metal karaoke band. Along the way, Raftery chronicles his own time as an obsessive karaoke fan, recalling a life’s worth of noisy relationships and poor song choices, and analyzing the karaoke-bar merits of such artists as Prince, Bob Dylan and Fugazi.
Part cultural history, part memoir, Don’t Stop Believin’: How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life is a hilarious and densely reported look at the liberating effects of a good sing-along.
Hannibal Lecter: A Life
This unique biography traces the many lives and crimes of Hannibal Lecter: his disturbing debut in Thomas Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon; his rise to infamy in beloved films like Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Jonathan Demme’s Academy Award–winning The Silence of the Lambs; and his unexpected comeback in the cult-hit TV series Hannibal. It also dives into the untold life and career of Harris, the secretive bestselling author whose passion for reporting, eye for grisly detail, and connections to the FBI helped birth not only Lecter, but also the modern true-crime genre. Along the way, Hannibal Lecter: A Life documents the many ways Lecter’s rise reflected America’s ever-growing obsession with real-life serial killers.
Featuring all-new interviews with crucial figures from Lecter’s past—including actor Brian Cox, director Mann, and former FBI special agent John Douglas—Hannibal Lecter: A Life is a deeply reported, wildly entertaining look at the making of one of the most beloved bad guys of all time.
