Russell Jacoby (born April 23, 1945) is a professor of
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
(UCLA), an author and a critic of academic culture. His fields of interest are twentieth-century European and American intellectual and cultural history, specifically the history of intellectuals and education.
As of 2013, he was professor in residence (an untenured position) at the UCLA department of history, and had taken emeritus status by 2022. A documentary, ''Velvet Prisons: Russell Jacoby on American Academia'', premiered in 2013 and played at many festivals, including the Humanity Explored Film Festival, the Davis International Film Festival, and Columbia Gorge Film Festival.
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and educated at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
and the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
. He received a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1974 from the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
.
Publications
* Articles and reviews in ''American Historical Review'', Grand Street, ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', ''
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 U ...
'', ''
London Review of Books'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Harper's'' and elsewhere.
*''Social Amnesia: A Critique of Contemporary Psychology'' (Beacon Press, 1975; Transaction, 1997)
*"What is Conformist Marxism?
''Telos''45 (Fall 1980). New York: Telos Press.
*''Dialectic of Defeat: Contours of Western Marxism'' (Cambridge University Press, 1981)
*''The Repression of Psychoanalysis: Otto Fenichel and the Political Freudians'' (Basic Books, 1983)
*''The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe'' (Basic Books, 1987; new edition with new Introduction, Basic Books 2000)
*''Dogmatic Wisdom: How the Culture Wars Divert Education and Distract America'' (Doubleday, 1994)
*''
The Bell Curve Debate: History, Documents, Opinions'' (Times Books, 1995).
*''The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in the Age of Apathy'' (Basic Books, 1999)
*''Picture Imperfect: Utopian Thought for an Anti-Utopian Age'' (Columbia University Press, 2005)
*''Bloodlust: On the Roots of Violence from Cain and Abel to the Present'' (Free Press, 2011)
*''On Diversity: The Eclipse of the Individual in a Global Era'' (Seven Stories Press, 2020)
Awards
*
Guggenheim Fellowshipbr>
awarded 1980*
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
(NEH) Fellowship
* Andrew Mellon Fellowship
Lehrman Fellowship awarded 1999(
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in New York City by businessmen-philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman in 1994 to promote the study and interest in American history.
The Institute serves teachers, studen ...
)
References
Going Public Washington Post, by Michael Berube Sunday, July 7, 2002
UCLA History Departmentonline biography
Columbia University online March 24, 2006
USC Librariesonline thumbnail biography
Russell Jacoby’s PICTURE IMPERFECTLauren Langman, Columbia University Press, 2005
External links
of ''How the Culture Wars Divert Education and Distract America'', scottlondon.com
of ''How the Culture Wars Divert Education and Distract America'', bostonreview.net. See
George ScialabbaBiography by Gale Reference Teamavailable through Amazon e-documents
Velvet Prisons: Russell Jacoby on American Academia*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacoby, Russell
1945 births
Living people
Writers from New York City
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
University of Chicago alumni
University of Rochester alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni