Remembering William Langewiesche

The writer, who died in June at 70, cast a long shadow.

I

One autumn night in 2006 I walked over to the bar at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington D.C. to meet William Langewiesche. The Jefferson was just across the street from my office at National Geographic but I’d never been there, and I remember the distinct feeling of slipping into another world. Back then the hotel was fancy and expensive and though a ci…