Edwin Seaver (1900-1987) was a 20th-century American publisher, writer, editor, and critic, best known for his work with left-wing magazines (including the ''

Call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

'', ''Leader'', ''

New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA. It succeeded both ''The Masses'' (1912–1917) and ''The Liberator''. ''New Masses'' was later merged into '' Masses & Mainstream'' (19 ...

'') and newspapers (''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

''), as well as book publishing houses including

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ch ...

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, and

George Braziller George Braziller (February 12, 1916 – March 16, 2017) was an American book publisher and the founder of George Braziller, Inc., a firm known for its literary and artistic books and its publication of foreign authors. Life and career Braziller ...

, .

Background

Edwin Seaver was born in 1900 in Washington, DC, to a Jewish family and raised in Philadelphia. He attended a New England prep school and then Harvard College.

Career

Inclined to

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, he worked for publications including the ''

Menorah Journal ''The Menorah Journal'' (1915–1962) was a Jewish-American magazine, founded in New York City. Some have called it "the leading English-language Jewish intellectual and literary journal of its era." The journal lasted from 1915 until 1 ...

'', the ''

'', and ''

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated John ...

''. He also co-wrote a book with actress

Carole Landis Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 ...

called ''Four Jills in a Jeep'' (1944), made to accompany movie of the same name that year. In 1948,

Max Lerner Max Lerner (December 20, 1902 – June 5, 1992) was a Russian Empire-born American journalist and educator known for his controversial syndicated column. Background Maxwell Alan Lerner was born on December 20, 1902 in Minsk, in the Russian Empi ...

reviewed in ''

Fortune (magazine) ''Fortune'' is an American multinational corporation, multinational business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. The publication was founded b ...

'', "The Businessman in Fiction," by John Chamberlain, whom he criticized for lumping left-leaning writers together as "heretics":

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

, Frederic Wakeman, John P. Marquand, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Lester Cohen, Norman Mailer, Christina Stead, Hiram Haydn, Robert Penn Warren, Charles Yale Harrison, Hugh MacLennan, Herman Wouk, Robert Rylee,

Taylor Caldwell Janet Miriam Caldwell (September 7, 1900August 30, 1985) was a British-born American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction under the pen names Taylor Caldwell, Marcus Holland and Max Reiner. She was also known by a variation of her mar ...

, Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck, MacKinlay Kantor, Robert Wilder, Thomas Duncan, Merle Miller, Robert van Gelder, Mary McCarthy, Arthur Miller, Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, Edwin Seaver, Mary Heaton Vorse, Grace Lumpkin, William Rollins, Robert Cantwell, Jack Conroy, Jack London, Robert Herrick, Frank Norris, William Dean Howells, Edith Wharton, Henry Adams, and Henry James. He was a sponsor of the Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace, held in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, March 25–27, 1949, arranged by the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions as follow-up to an earlier gathering, the

World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace The World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace ( pl, Światowy Kongres Intelektualistów w Obronie Pokoju) was an international conference held on 25 to 28 August 1948 at Wrocław University of Technology. It was organized in the aftermat ...

, held in Poland, August 25–28, 1948.Review of the Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace
by the

Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., April 19, 1949 Seaver was interviewed during the McCarthy hearings but never confirmed as a Communist.

Works

Seaver wrote the novels ''The Company'' (Macmillan, 1930) and ''Between the Hammer and the Anvil'' (Julian Messner, 1937). * ''The Company'' (1930) * ''All in the racket'', with

William E. Weeks William Edward Weeks (June 23, 1880 – April 23, 1972) was an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as Mayor of Everett, Massachusetts. Early life Weeks was born on June 23, 1 ...

, introduced by

Arthur Garfield Hays Arthur Garfield Hays (December 12, 1881 – December 14, 1954) was an American lawyer and champion of civil liberties issues, best known as a co-founder and general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union and for participating in notable ca ...

(1930) * ''Between the hammer and the anvil'' (1937) * ''World's great love novels'' (1944) * ''Cross section: a collection of new American writing'' (1944-1948) * ''Pageant of American humor'' (1948) * "Only an Editor", ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'' (August 24, 1967) * ''So far, so good: recollections of a life in publishing'' (preface by Angus Cameron) (1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaver, Edwin 1900 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Harvard College alumni 20th-century American male writers