Philip L. Fradkin (February 28, 1935 – July 8, 2012) was an American

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

historian, journalist, and author. Fradkin authored books ranging from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, with topics ranging from

water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

earthquakes An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

, and

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

. Born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Fradkin grew up in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. ...

and attended

Montclair Kimberley Academy Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) is a co-educational private school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade located in Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. One of New Jersey's largest independent day schools, ...

, graduating in the class of 1953. In 1964, Fradkin began working for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', and the following year was part of the metropolitan staff awarded a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for its work on the 1965 Watts riots.Luther J. Carter
Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy (Review)
''The American Political Science Review'', Vol. 84, No. 2 (June 1990), pp. 657-658. In 2005, Fradkin was given the California Award by the

Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

. He commented on controversial issues such as

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

allegations towards

Wallace Stegner Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book ...

-winning novel, ''Angle of Repose'', based on the letters of the American Old West author Mary Hallock Foote.

Selected works

* ''California : the golden coast'' (1974) * ''A river no more : the Colorado River and the West'' (1981) * '' Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy'' (1989) * ''Sagebrush country : land and the American West'' (1989) * ''Wanderings of an environmental journalist in Alaska and the American West'' (1993) * ''The seven states of California : a natural and human history'' (1995) * ''Magnitude 8 : earthquakes and life along the San Andreas Fault'' (1998) * ''Wildest Alaska : journeys of great peril in Lituya Bay'' (2001) * ''Stagecoach : Wells Fargo and the American West'' (2002) * ''The great earthquake and firestorms of 1906 : how San Francisco nearly destroyed itself'' (2005) * ''After the ruins, 1906 and 2006 : rephotographing the San Francisco earthquake and fire'' (2006) * ''Wallace Stegner and the American West'' (2008)

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fradkin, Philip L. American male non-fiction writers Montclair Kimberley Academy alumni People from Montclair, New Jersey Williams College alumni 1935 births 2012 deaths American non-fiction environmental writers