Talking to Strangers Characters

Brett Swisher Houtz was molested by Jerry Sandusky when he was enrolled in Sandusky’s Second Mile program. In trial, Houtz testified to having dozens of sexual encounters with Sandusky as a minor. Despite the allegations, Houtz remained friendly with Sandusky into adulthood—a detail that complicated his allegations.

M is a woman who pressed charges against Brian Bree alleging that he sexually assaulted her after a night of heavy drinking.

Emily Pronin is a psychologist whose word completion study Gladwell describes in Chapter Two. The study illustrates what Pronin calls the “illusion of asymmetrical insight,” an idea that describes the fallacy wherein we think we know other people better than they know themselves.

Charles Morgan is a psychologist whose research on PTSD at a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) school at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, established a link between exposure to traumatic experience and impaired memory.

Henry Laufer is a senior executive at Renaissance Technologies. He was involved in Renaissance’s investigation into Bernie Madoff’s fund.

Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician. He was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as president from 1976 to 2008. Under Castro’s leadership, Cuba became a communist state.

Clive Renfro is the state investigator who interrogates Officer Brian Encinia in the investigation that followed Sandra Bland’s suicide. Gladwell includes excerpts from the transcript of the interrogation in Chapter Twelve.

Anna Heath is the wife of Dwight Heath. While in Bolivia conducting fieldwork for Dwight’s anthropology dissertation, the Heaths immersed themselves in the culture of the Camba people, attending their weekend parties, which often involved drinking 180 proof laboratory alcohol.

Claude Steele is a social psychologist. He and colleague Robert Josephs were the first scientists to propose the “myopia theory” of alcohol.

Psychologist Robert Josephs is a psychologist who conducts research on effects of acute alcohol intoxication. He and his colleague Claude Steele were the first scientists to propose the “myopia theory” of alcohol.

Peter Jonsson is one of the two Stanford University graduate students who witnessed Brock Turner on top of an unconscious Emily Doe on January 18, 2015.

Carl-Fredrik Arndt is one of two Stanford University graduate students who witnessed Brock Turner on top of an unconscious Emily Doe on January 18, 2015.

Raffaele Sollecito is Amanda Knox’s former boyfriend. Sollecito and Knox were wrongfully convicted of the 2007 murder of Knox’s roommate, Meredith Kercher, though the Italian Supreme Court later acquitted them.

Achim Schützwohl is a German psychologist. Gladwell cites Schützwohl and psychologist Rainer Reisenzein’s study on the emotions of surprise to illustrate the limitations of transparency.

Rainer Reisenzein is a German psychologist. Gladwell cites Reisenzein and psychologist Achim Schützwohl’s study on the emotions of surprise to illustrate the limitations of transparency.

Meredith Kercher was a British exchange student who was murdered in 2007 by Rudy Guede while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. Kercher’s roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were wrongfully accused and convicted of the murder in a highly publicized, controversial trial.

Michael Ocrant is a financial journalist who interviewed Bernie Madoff for an article after whistleblower Harry Markopolos tipped off Ocrant to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Despite his knowledge that Madoff was likely guilty, Ocrant was so taken aback by Madoff’s non-guilty demeanor that he dropped the story.

Anne Sexton was an American poet who was friends with Sylvia Plath and is famous for her confessional verse. Sexton died by suicide in 1974 at the age of 45.

O.W. Wilson was a law enforcement officer who invented the policing technique of “preventative patrol” during his years as police chief of the Wichita Police Department between 1929­1939.

Ronald Clarke is a criminologist whose pioneering research on suicide established a link between the availability of town gas in residences and increased suicide rates. Clarke used this link to argue that suicide is a coupled behavior.

Amadou Diallo was a young African immigrant whom New York police shot after mistaking him for a rape subject. Gladwell covered Diallo’s case in his second book, Blink, and briefly revisits it in the Afterword of Talking to Strangers.

Aldrich Ames was a senior officer assigned to Soviet counterintelligence who was secretly operating as a spy for the Soviet Union.

Wendell Courtney is a Penn State lawyer who testified at Jerry Sandusky’s trial.

Rachael Denhollander is a former gymnast and survivor of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse. She came forward to press charges in 2016, which ultimately led to Nassar’s 2017 conviction.

Kathie Klages is a former Michigan State gymnastics coach who defended Larry Nassar after a young athlete came to her with allegations against Nassar in 1997.

Graham Spanier was the president of Penn State when Jerry Sandusky was brought to trial for child molestation. Once a beloved figure at the university, Spanier was ultimately convicted of child endangerment in 2011 for failing to properly report the claims made against Sandusky.

Jonelle Eshbach acted as lead prosecutor in the Jerry Sandusky trial.

Laura Ditka was the Deputy Attorney General for Pennsylvania. She was lead prosecutor in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.