Joel Carmichael (December 31, 1915 – January 27, 2006) was an American historian, magazine editor, and translator.

Biography

Early life and education

Born Joel Lipsky on December 31, 1915, in New York City, Carmichael was the youngest son of Charlotte Schacht and

Louis Lipsky Louis Lipsky (November 30, 1876 – May 27, 1963) was an American Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization of America, magazine editor, and author of books on Jewish culture and politics. Biography Louis Lipsky had three sons: David ...

, a founder of the American

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

movement, President of the

Zionist Organization of America The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) () is an American non-profit pro-Israel organization. Founded in 1897, as the Federation of American Zionists, it was the first official Zionist organization in the United States. Early in the 20th centur ...

. His oldest brother, David (1907–1996) became a publicist; his middle brother,

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from c ...

(1911–1993), was a lawyer, novelist, journalist, playwright and active Zionist. Following graduation from high school, he was sent for a year to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. There he began learning Arabic before returning to New York and attending

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In England, a chance meeting with an Oxford don turned him to read Greek and Russian at Oxford.

Career

His first book, a translation of a memoir of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

, helped Carmichael land a contract with

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. From there, he wrote numerous titles on

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

Arab history The recorded history of the Arabs begins in the mid-ninth century BC, which is the earliest known attestation of the Old Arabic language. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; they went from the Arabian P ...

and

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Veli ...

, and translated ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...

'' for a new paperback edition. One book, ''The Death of Jesus'', was translated into eight languages. Carmichael was also editor of ''

Midstream The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, barge, oil tanker or truck), storage, and wholesale marketing of crud ...

'', a Zionist magazine, for 24 years, serving from 1975–1988 and 1990-2001.

Marriage and family

Carmichael was married twice: first to the journalist Mary Carr Thomas, then to sculptor Elizabeth de Cuevas in 1960. He had three children. His granddaughter is the filmmaker Emily Carmichael.

Death

Carmichael died January 27, 2006, in Manhattan.

Published works

*''An Illustrated History of Russia'' (Reynal, 1960) *''The Eichmann Case: Reactions in West Germany'' (Marstin Press, 1961) *''Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Several Hands'' with Meyer Wolfe Weisgal and David Ben-Gurion (1962) *''The Death of Jesus'' (Macmillan, 1963) *''A Short History of the Russian Revolution'' (Nelson, 1964) *''The Shaping of the Arabs: A Study in Ethnic Identity'' (Macmillan, 1967) *''Karl Marx: The Passionate Logician'' (Scribner, 1967) *''Open Letter to Moses and Mohammed'' (J.H. Heineman, 1968) *''A Cultural History of Russia'' (Weybright and Talley, 1968) *''Trotsky: an Appreciation of His Life'' (St. Martin's Press, 1975) *''Stalin's Masterpiece'' (St. Martin's Press, 1976) *''Arabs Today'' (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977) *''The Birth of Christianity: Reality and Myth'' (Hippocrene Books, 1989) *''A History of Russia'' (Hippocrene Books, 1990) *''The Satanizing of the Jews: Origin and Development of Mystical Anti-Semitism'' (Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1992) *''The Unriddling of Christian Origins: A Secular Account'' (Prometheus Books, 1995)

Translations

Carl Brockelmann Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semiticist, was the foremost orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, Königsberg. He is best known for his multi-volume ...

, ''History of the Islamic Peoples'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939) *N. N. Sukhanov, ''The Russian Revolution: A Personal Record'' (Oxford, 1955) *

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

, ''

'' (Bantam, 1960) *Dan Theodore, ''The Origins of Bolshevism'' (Secker & Warburg, 1964) *

Gisela Elsner Gisela Elsner (2 May 1937 – 13 May 1992) was a German writer. She won the Prix Formentor in 1964 for her novel ''Die Riesenzwerge'' (''The Giant Dwarfs''). Early life Elsner was born in Nuremberg, Middle Franconia. In 1959, she went to Vienna ...

, ''The Giant Dwarfs'' (Grove Press, 1965) *Paul Marc Henry, ''Africa Aeterna: The Pictorial Chronicle of a Continent'' (Sedo S.A., 1965) *

Jean Lacouture Jean Lacouture (9 June 1921 – 16 July 2015) was a journalist, historian and author. He was particularly famous for his biographies. Career Jean Lacouture was born in Bordeaux, France. He began his career in journalism in 1950 in ''Combat'' ...

, ''Vietnam: Between Two Truces'', trans. w. Kellen Konrad (Vintage Books/Random House, 1966) *

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

, ''A Peace Policy for Europe'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968)

References

External links

Lipsky Family Papers
P-858; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138438/ *http://www.nybooks.com/authors/1261 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carmichael, Joel 1915 births 2006 deaths American magazine editors French–English translators German–English translators Historians of Russia Jewish American historians Russian–English translators 20th-century American historians 20th-century American translators 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews