Seth Mnookin (born April 27, 1972) is an American writer and journalist.
As of 2006, he is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair (magazine); before that, he was a senior writer for Newsweek. He wrote the 2004 book Hard News : The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media. Mnookin was assigned the Jayson Blair story at Newsweek, and the research for that book grew into a broader examination of the troubles during the Howell Raines administration at the New York Times.
During the 1990s, Mnookin struggled with overcoming heroin addiction, an experience he recounted in an article at Slate.com. His mother, the poet Wendy Mnookin, has also written about his heroin addiction and subsequent recovery.
In the mid '90s, he began his career as a rock critic, and later worked at The Palm Beach Post, The Forward, and Brill's Content.
Mnookin, who grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, is a graduate of Newton North High School and Harvard University.
In 2006, Mnookin released a book about the Boston Red Sox entitled Feeding the Monster, which became a New York Times bestseller. It chronicled the history of the team from 2001 to 2006, the first half-decade of the John W. Henry-Tom Werner ownership, and includes details about the 2004 World Series team.