His first novel, Hank Thompson's Blues, was published by Nobody Rocks Press in May 2009. His nonfiction book The New Blue Media: How Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, Jon Stewart and Company Are Transforming Progressive Politics was published in May 2008 by the New Press. His first nonfiction work, Rebel and a Cause, about the 1960 execution of San Quentin death row author Caryl Chessman, was published by the University of California Press in 2001.

Hamm's essays and editorials in the Brooklyn Rail have received awards from the Independent Press Association-New York, and he has also written for publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, In These Times, and Truthdig.com. In 1997, he received the Outstanding Volunteer Service award from San Quentin State Prison for teaching in the prison's college program. He is currently an associate professor of urban studies at Metropolitan College of New York. He lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.