Isaacson, Walter 1952–

views updated

Isaacson, Walter 1952–

(Walter Seff Isaacson)

PERSONAL:

Born May 20, 1952, in New Orleans, LA; son of Irwin, Jr., and Betsy Isaacson; married Cathy Wright, September 15, 1984; children: Elizabeth Carter. Education: Harvard University, B.A., 1974; Pembroke College, Oxford, M.A., 1976.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Office—Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle, Washington, DC 20036; fax: (202) 466-4568.

CAREER:

Journalist. Sunday Times, London, England, reporter, 1976-77; States-Item, New Orleans, LA, reporter, 1977-78; Time, New York, NY, staff writer, 1978-79, Washington, DC, correspondent, 1979-81, associate editor, 1981-84, senior editor, then assistant managing editor, 1984-96, managing editor, 1996-2001; CNN News Network, Atlanta, GA, chair and chief executive officer, 2001-03; Aspen Institute, Washington, DC, president and chief executive officer, 2003—. Vice chair of Louisiana Recovery Authority; chair of Teach for America; member of board of directors of United Airlines, Tulane University, and National Constitution Center. Member, Council on Foreign Relations.

MEMBER:

Century Club, Harvard Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Mary Hemingway Award, Overseas Press Club of America, 1979, for article "The Colombian Connection"; Overseas Press Club Award for foreign news interpretation, 1982, for article "Arming the World"; Harry S Truman Book Prize, 1987, for The Wise Men.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Pro and Con: Both Sides of Dozens of Unsettled and Unsettling Arguments, Putnam (New York, NY), 1983.

(With Evan Thomas) The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1986.

Kissinger: A Biography, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1992.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor) A Benjamin Franklin Reader,, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor and author of introduction) Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth and Other Writings on Finance, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Einstein: His Life and Universe, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Time, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

Walter Isaacson is a journalist who rose through the ranks of Time to become that magazine's managing editor in 1996. He later served as the chair and chief executive of the CNN television news network before accepting a position with the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC. In addition to his executive career, Isaacson has written or cowritten several works of nonfiction, including The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, a biographical study of men influential in shaping mid-twentieth-century international affairs. He is also the author of the acclaimed biographies Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Einstein: His Life and Universe.

George F. Kennan, Dean Acheson, Charles Bohlen, Robert A. Lovett, W. Averell Harriman, and John J. McCloy are the politicians and policymakers Isaacson and coauthor Evan Thomas profile in The Wise Men. The study is "a richly textured account of a class, and of a historical period, that is now in eclipse," according to Ronald Steel in the New York Times Book Review. Steel found the authors' research "thorough and their narrative smooth-flowing. They see the flaws of the men they write about, but make us aware of their virtues as well."

In Kissinger: A Biography, Isaacson profiles statesman Henry Kissinger, a former national security advisor who served as secretary of state under President Richard Nixon, The work was widely regarded as a balanced, intriguing, and well-written study of the personal and political life of the former U.S. secretary of state. In the words of Priscilla Johnson McMillan, reviewing the book for the Chicago Tribune, Isaacson's work provides an opportunity "for reassessing the high-wire act by which Kissinger riveted world attention." Godfrey Hodgson, in a review for the Washington Post Book World, referred to Kissinger as a "meticulously researched, intelligent and fair book" that "lets the reader know the worst." Although Hodgson personally considered the author's portrayal perhaps "too kind," he credited Isaacson for his "compassionate understanding of the roots of [Kissinger's] shortcomings, and a generous … estimate of his positive achievements."

Isaacson offers a portrait of one of the founding fathers of the United States in Benjamin Franklin, "a biography worthy of its subject, with a plain, straightforward tone that its subject would likely have approved," commented Tracy Lee Simmons in the National Review. Isaacson's fascination with the scientist, statesman, and journalist began more than a decade earlier, he told Book contributor Jesse Oxfeld: "The real reason I started reading about Franklin in the late '80s was because I was working on Kissinger and I wanted to understand the roots of this combination of realism and idealism that has marked American foreign policy."

In Benjamin Franklin Isaacson displays "a keen eye for the genius of a man whose fingerprints lie everywhere in our history," a Publishers Weekly contributor observed. Isaacson's chronological narrative details Franklin's private and public life, including his essential roles in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the U.S. Constitution. "While most Americans are vaguely acquainted with the inventor of bifocals or the man who flew a kite to discover electricity, only a work as comprehensive as Isaacson's fully conveys the debt which this nation owes Benjamin Franklin," remarked Thomas A. Rider in Parameters. Isaacson also examines his subject's penchant for adopting elaborate, colorful personas to match his many talents. According to Joseph J. Ellis, writing in the New York Times Book Review, the author "recognizes from the start that the character portrayed in the Autobiography is one of Franklin's most artful inventions." Ellis continued: "If I read him right, Isaacson thinks it is both futile and misguided to search for the core Franklin among the ever-shuffling selves, since Franklin's orchestration of his different voices became the central feature of his personality."

Benjamin Franklin received overwhelmingly positive reviews. A critic in Kirkus Reviews described the biography as "a solid contribution to Frankliniana," and Ellis called it "a thoroughly researched, crisply written, convincingly argued chronicle that is also studded with little nuggets of fresh information." "Isaacson's vivid and readable narrative gives a clear account of Franklin's scientific work, of his extraordinary career as a social innovator, of his labors as a diplomat and statesman, and of the vagaries of his love life," noted Robin Blackburn in the Nation.

In 2007 Isaacson published a biography of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein titled Einstein, "a thorough exploration of his subject's life, a skilful piece of scientific literature and a thumping good read," noted Robin McKie in the London Observer. "I became interested in Einstein when I was editor of Time, and we were choosing the Person of the century," Isaacson told interviewer Scott Butki of Blogcritics online. He added: "Einstein was primarily responsible for the two great scientific pillars of our time: relativity and quantum theory. His fingerprints are on much of the technology: lasers and photoelectric cells, atomic power and weaponry, space travel and even microchips. And he was an exemplar of a century in which refugees fled oppression to seek more freedom. His life is a testament to the connection between freedom and creativity."

In Einstein Isaacson blends accounts of Einstein's sometime messy personal life (he fathered an illegitimate child and engaged in an affair with an alleged Soviet spy) with discussions of his remarkable scientific achievements. According to Stephen Petranek, writing in American Scholar, "books about Einstein normally fall into one of two categories—his life, or his science. The books focused on the latter tend to be much more of a slog. With Isaacson's Einstein you get both, in an ingenious weave of narrative, science, and then a twist of operatic drama." Isaacson also addresses Einstein's political and spiritual interests, noting that he dedicated his final years to arms control and world peace. The author "does a … graceful job of integrating Einstein's science with his broader philosophical concerns, especially the global worries that plagued him with the approach of the Second World War," remarked New York Times critic Janet Maslin. "Even as a committed pacifist he remained primarily a scientist and revised his opinions as fate required."

Like Isaacson's previous biographies, Einstein garnered strong reviews. Writing in the New Yorker, John Updike called the work "thorough, comprehensive, [and] affectionate," and Miami Herald critic Kathleen Krog stated that the volume "radiates intelligence, wit and eloquence." According to a contributor in Publishers Weekly, in his biography Isaacson "reminds us why Einstein … remains one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scholar, summer, 2007, Stephen Petranek, "Magical Mind," review of Einstein: His Life and Universe, p. 133.

Atlantic Monthly, March, 1984, Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of Pro and Con: Both Sides of Dozens of Unsettled and Unsettling Arguments, p. 132.

Book, November 1, 2003, Jesse Oxfeld, "Will the Real Ben Franklin Please Stand Up?," review of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, p. 58.

Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1992, Priscilla Johnson McMillan, review of Kissinger: A Biography, p. 1.

Chronicle of Higher Education, May 4, 2007, John Horgan, "Toward a Unified Theory of Einstein's Life."

Discover, April, 2007, review of Einstein, p. 69.

Financial Times, January 14, 2003, Christopher Grimes, "CNN Chief Isaacson Leaves for Think-Tank," p. 28.

Houston Chronicle, April 13, 2007, Steve Weinberg, "Bringing Einstein Back down to Earth."

Inside Media, March 6, 1996, Ann Marie Kerwin, "Time's Man of the Year: Walter Isaacson's Campaign Plans," p. 22.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2003, review of Benjamin Franklin, p. 658.

Library Journal, June 15, 2003, Charles L. Lumpkins, review of Benjamin Franklin, p. 80; February 15, 2007, Jack W. Weigel, review of Einstein, p. 127.

Miami Herald, April 11, 2007, Kathleen Krog, "Einstein Offers a Luminous Account of the Scientific Rock Star."

Nation, August 4, 2003, Robin Blackburn, "The Bourgeois Revolutionary," p. 31.

National Review, November 10, 2003, Tracy Lee Simmons, "Restoring an Original."

Newsweek, July 23, 2001, Peg Tyre, "Where's Walter? At CNN," p. 48; July 14, 2003, Malcolm Jones, "This Is Mr. America," p. 58; April 16, 2007, Sharon Begley, "The Man Who Read God's Mind," p. 98.

New Yorker, April 2, 2007, John Updike, "The Valiant Swabian."

New York Times, April 9, 2007, Janet Maslin, "The Scale Of Einstein: From Faith to Formulas," p. E1.

New York Times Book Review, November 2, 1986, Ronald Steel, review of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, p. 3; September 6, 1992, review of Kissinger, p. 1; July 6, 2003, Joseph J. Ellis, "The Many-Minded Man," p. 11; May 20, 2007, Corey S. Powell, "Master of the Universe," p. 16.

Observer (London, England), June 10, 2007, Robin McKie, "A Flat-footed Hero," review of Einstein.

Parameters, autumn, 2004, Thomas A. Rider, review of Benjamin Franklin, p. 164.

Political Science Quarterly, summer, 2004, Robert Middlekauff, review of Benjamin Franklin, p. 343.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2003, Ed Nawotka, "PW Talks to Walter Isaacson," p. 56, and review of Benjamin Franklin, p. 56; February 12, 2007, review of Einstein, p. 78.

Time, November 27, 2000, Norman Pearlstine, "A Change in Leadership," p. 8.

USA Today, April 10, 2007, Dan Veragno, "Einstein: It's Relatively Good," p. 8.

Wall Street Journal, September 16, 1992, review of Kissinger, p. A13.

Washington Post Book World, October 19, 1986, review of The Wise Men, p. 1; September 6, 1992, Godfrey Hodgson, review of Kissinger, p. 1.