Peter L.W. Osnos (born October 13, 1943) is an American journalist who is the founder of

PublicAffairs Books PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is an imprint of Perseus Books, an American book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. ...

Early life

Osnos was born in India to a Jewish refugee family from Warsaw, Poland. He is the son of Joseph Osnos and Marta Osnos, who later settled in New York. Osnos graduated from Brandeis University and the

Columbia Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

Career

In 1965, Osnos began his journalism career as an editorial assistant to investigative journalist

I. F. Stone Isidor Feinstein "I. F." Stone (December 24, 1907 – June 18, 1989) was an American investigative journalist, writer, and author. Known for his politically progressive views, Stone is best remembered for ''I. F. Stone's Weekly'' (1953–1971), ...

on his weekly newsletter. From 1966 to 1984, Osnos worked for '' The Washington Post;'' he was a foreign correspondent in Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, and he also served as foreign editor and national editor. Osnos was a regular commentator for National Public Radio's '' Morning Edition'' and co-host of ''Communiqué''. In 1984, he joined Random House, where he worked until 1996 as a senior editor, vice president, and associate publisher, and as publisher of the Times Books division. In 1997, he founded PublicAffairs. He served as Publisher and CEO until 2005 and, then, as Consulting Editor until December 31, 2020. Authors he has published or edited include former President Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, Sid Caesar, Clark Clifford, former President Bill Clinton,

Leonard Downie, Jr. Leonard "Len" Downie Jr. (born May 1, 1942) is an American journalist who was executive editor of ''The Washington Post'' from 1991 to 2008. He worked in the ''Post'' newsroom for 44 years. His roles at the newspaper included executive editor, manag ...

, Paul Farmer, Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar,

Sam Donaldson Samuel Andrew Donaldson Jr. (born March 11, 1934) is an American former reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to 2009. He is best known as the network's White House Correspondent (1977–1989 and 1998–99) and as a panelist ...

, Kenneth Feinberg, Annette Gordon Reed,

Meg Greenfield Mary Ellen Greenfield (December 27, 1930 – May 13, 1999), known as Meg Greenfield, was an American editorial writer who worked for the ''Washington Post'' and ''Newsweek''. She was also a Washington, D.C. insider, known for her wit. Greenfield ...

, Dorothy Height, Don Hewitt, Molly Ivins, Vernon Jordan,

Murray Kempton James Murray Kempton (December 16, 1917 – May 5, 1997) was an American journalist and social and political commentator. He won a National Book Award in 1974 (category, "Contemporary Affairs") for ''The Briar Patch: The People of the State of ...

Wendy Kopp Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

Charles Krauthammer Charles Krauthammer (; March 13, 1950 – June 21, 2018) was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in ''The Washington ...

, Brian Lamb, Jim Lehrer, Scott McClellan, Robert McNamara, Charles Morris, Peggy Noonan, William Novak, former President Barack Obama, former Speaker of the House

Tip O’Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in N ...

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program '' 60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 201 ...

, Morley Safer, Natan Sharansky, George Soros,

Susan Swain Susan Swain (born December 23, 1954) is an American journalist, author and the co-CEO of C-SPAN. Early years Swain was born December 23, 1954, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Swain was educated in public schools in the Philadelphia area. Swain ...

, former

President Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, Paul Volcker, Juan Williams, James Wolfensohn, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and

Nobel Peace Prize winner The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology ...

Muhammad Yunus. From 2006 to 2014, he wrote the Platform column for the Century Foundation, which was published by '' The Daily Beast'' and '' The Atlantic''. Since 2017, his Platform column has been published on Medium. In January 2022,
Peter Osnos Platform
' was launched on Substack. His memoi
''An Especially Good View: Watching History Happen''
was published in 2021. He is the editor of a book of biographical essays calle
''George Soros: A Life in Full''
coming in March 2022. He has served on the board of directors of Human Rights Watch, and, from 2005 to 2009, he was executive director of The Caravan Project, a non-profit organization that supported the simultaneous publishing of books in audio, digital, and print formats. He was Vice-Chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review from 2007 to 2012. In 2020, he and his wife Susan co-founded Platform Books LLC.

Personal

Osnos lives in New York City with his wife Susan Sherer Osnos, who is chair of the board of the

Center for Civilians in Conflict The Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) is a Washington, D.C. based non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO). CIVIC was founded in 2003 by Marla Ruzicka as the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict. CIVIC works on behalf of civilians ...

. She is a daughter of diplomat

Albert W. Sherer Jr. Albert William Sherer Jr. (January 19, 1916 – December 27, 1986) was an American diplomat. Biography In 1938 he received a B.A. from Yale University and an LL.B. in 1941 from Harvard University. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1941 to ...

He has two children: Katherine Osnos Sanford and journalist

Evan Osnos Evan Lionel Richard Osnos (born December 24, 1976) is an American journalist and author. He has been a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' since 2008, best known for his coverage of politics and foreign affairs, in the United States and China. His ...

; and five grandchildren.

Works

* ''An Especially Good View: Watching History Happen'', Platform Books, 2021. ISBN 9781735996806

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osnos, Peter Living people American male journalists American people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish American journalists 1944 births Brandeis University alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Columbia University alumni