Max Ascoli (1898–1978) was a Jewish Italian-American professor of political philosophy and law at the
New School for Social Research, United States of America.
Career
Ascoli's career started in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and continued in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Background
Ascoli was born in
Ferrara, Italy on June 25, 1898, into an Italian Jewish family. He was the only child of Enrico Ascoli, a coal and lumber merchant, and Adriana Finzi. In 1920, he graduated in Law from the
University of Ferrara
The University of Ferrara ( it, Università degli Studi di Ferrara) is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 5 ...
. In 1921, he published a critical study of French socialist
Georges Sorel
Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and ...
. In 1924, he published a biography of philosopher
Benedetto Croce. In 1928, he graduated in Philosophy from the
University of Rome.
Italy
In 1928, Ascoli held the chair of Philosophy of Law at the University of Rome,
[
] but he was arrested.
[
]
In 1929, he accepted a post at the
University of Cagliari
The University of Cagliari ( it, Università degli Studi di Cagliari) is a university in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It was founded in 1606 and is organized in 11 faculties.
History
The ''Studium Generalis Kalaritanum'' was founded in 1606 alon ...
(Sardinia). His opposition to the Italian fascist regime, however, led him into exile.
United States
In 1931, Ascoli received a
Rockefeller Foundation scholarship and moved to the United States.
In 1939, he became an American citizen.
Ascoli met
Alvin Johnson during his time with the Rockefeller Foundation and later joined the
New School for Social Research that Johnson co-founded in New York. He was active in the
Mazzini Society The Mazzini Society was an antifascist political association, formed on a democratic and republican basis, situating itself within the tradition of the Risorgimento, and created in the United States by Italian-American immigrants in the late 1930s. ...
, an anti-fascist organization founded in 1939 by Italian intellectuals who had fled fascist Italy.
For many years, Ascoli taught at the
New School for Social Research, becoming dean of the Graduate School (1939–41). He left the New School to serve the government for two years under
Nelson A. Rockefeller, then
Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He then went on to focus on a new magazine.
''The Reporter''
In 1949, Ascoli joined
James Reston
James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.''
Early lif ...
to found ''
The Reporter (magazine)
''The Reporter'' was an American biweekly news magazine published in New York City from 1949 through 1968.
History and profile
The magazine was founded by Max Ascoli, who was born in 1898 in Ferrara, Italy to a Jewish family. in Ascoli grew ...
'', an influential, liberal magazine for some two decades (1949-1968). Its circulation peaked at 215,000 readers. In 1968, Ascoli merged the publication with
Harper’s Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
.
Contributors included:
Dean Acheson,
James Baldwin,
McGeorge Bundy,
Isaac Deutscher
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
,
Theodore Draper
Theodore H. Draper (September 11, 1912 – February 21, 2006) was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the Ame ...
,
John Kenneth Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...
,
Gertrude Himmelfarb
Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, ...
,
Irving Howe
Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Early years
Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of ...
,
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
,
Irving Kristol
Irving Kristol (; January 22, 1920 – September 18, 2009) was an American journalist who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism". As a founder, editor, and contributor to various magazines, he played an influential role in the intellectual ...
,
Boris Pasternak,
Eugene V. Rostow
Eugene Victor Rostow (August 25, 1913 – November 25, 2002) was an American legal scholar and public servant. He was Dean of Yale Law School and served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the ...
,
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,
Peter Viereck
Peter Robert Edwin Viereck (August 5, 1916 – May 13, 2006) was an American poet and professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1949 for the collection ''Terror and Decorum''.[Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...]
.
Personal life and death
Ascoli was married twice. His first wife was Italian poet
Anna Maria Cochetti (who wrote under the pen name
Anna Maria Armi); he divorced her in 1940. His second wife was
Marion Rosenwald Ascoli, whom he married in 1940. Marion was the daughter of CEO of the ''
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...
'',
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...
. (She was also previously married to
Alfred K. Stern, whom she divorced in 1936.) She had been chairwoman and president of the
Citizens Committee for Children of New York and previously president of the
New York Fund for Children and of the
Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem. Marion Ascoli died in 1990, aged 88. Their son is
Peter Ascoli, author of ''
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...
'', a book about his maternal grandfather.
Ascoli died after a long illness at his home in Manhattan on January 1, 1978 at the age of 79.
Works
Th
Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries houses Max Ascoli's papers.
His books include criticism of Italian fascist
Corporatism
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
.
Books written
* ''Vie dalla Croce'' (1924)
* ''Saggi Vichiani'' (1928)
* ''Gíustizia: Saggio di Filosofia del Diritto'' (1930)
* ''Intelligence in Politics'' (1936)
* ''Fascism: Who Benefits?'' (1939)
* ''War Aims and America's Aims'' (1941)
* ''Power of Freedom'' (1949)
Books co-written
* ''Fascism for Whom?'' with Arthur Feiler (1938)
Books edited
* ''Political and Economic Democracy'', edited by Max Ascoli and Fritz Lehmann (1937)
* ''Fall of Mussolini, His Own Story'', translated from the Italian by Francis Frenaye, edited and with a preface by Max Ascoli (1948)
* ''Reporter Reader'' (1956)
* ''Our Times: The Best from the Reporter'' (1960)
* ''Reporter Reader'' (1969)
Articles
* Articles for ''
Foreign Affairs (magazine)
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy an ...
''
[
]
See also
*''
The Reporter (magazine)
''The Reporter'' was an American biweekly news magazine published in New York City from 1949 through 1968.
History and profile
The magazine was founded by Max Ascoli, who was born in 1898 in Ferrara, Italy to a Jewish family. in Ascoli grew ...
''
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
Max Ascoli papersat th
Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascoli, Max
1898 births
1978 deaths
Sapienza University of Rome alumni
University of Ferrara alumni
University of Cagliari faculty
The New School faculty
Italian exiles
Italian emigrants to the United States