Jonathan Mirsky (November 14, 1932 – September 5, 2021) was an American journalist and historian of China. The son of molecular biologist

Alfred Mirsky Alfred Ezra Mirsky (October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1974) was an American pioneer in molecular biology. Mirsky graduated from Harvard College in 1922, after which he studied for two years at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeon ...

and writer Reba Paeff Mirsky, he grew up in New York. He earned his BA in history from

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 ...

, and was awarded a PhD in Chinese history from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1966 and taught at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. A prominent opponent of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, he did not receive tenure, and left academia for journalism. His coverage of the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' won him the international reporter of the year title in the 1989

British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named '' ...

. His obituary in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' considered that his career "encapsulated the shifts in the way the western left viewed China, from the first decades of communist rule to Beijing’s move to capitalism while still under single-party control," with his work since the 1980s increasingly critical. He died on September 5, 2021, at the age of 88.

References

1932 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American journalists Columbia College (New York) alumni The Observer people University of Pennsylvania alumni {{US-journalist-1930s-stub