Sasha Abramsky (born 4 April 1972) is a British-born freelance journalist and author who now lives 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 ...

. His work has appeared in ''

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 tha ...

'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''. He is a senior fellow at the American liberal think tank

Demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

, and a lecturer in the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

's University Writing Program.

Biography

Abramsky was born in England to a Jewish family and was raised in London, in what Debbie Arrington described as "an accomplished and bookish family". He is the son of Jack Abramsky, a mathematician, and the grandson of

Chimen Abramsky Chimen Abramsky ( he, שמעון אברמסקי; 12 September 1916 – 14 March 2010) was emeritus professor of Jewish studies at University College London. His first name is pronounced ''Shimon''. Biography Abramsky was born in Minsk to a Li ...

, a professor of Jewish studies at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, who was himself the son of

Yehezkel Abramsky Yehezkel Abramsky ( he, יחזקאל אברמסקי) (7 February 1886 – 19 September 1976), also affectionately referred to as Reb Chatzkel Abramsky, was a prominent and influential Lithuanian Jewish Orthodox rabbi and scholar, born and raised i ...

, a prominent Orthodox rabbi. He received a B.A. from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

in politics, philosophy and economics in 1993. He then traveled to the United States, where he earned a master's degree from the

Columbia University 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 ...

. In 2000, he received a Crime and Communities Media Fellowship from the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

Bibliography

Books

* ''Hard Time Blues: How Politics Built a Prison Nation''. Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martins Press, January 2002 * ''Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, And Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House''. The New Press, April 2006 * ''American Furies: Crime, Punishment, and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment''. Beacon Press (MA), May 2007 * ''Ill-equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness''. Human Rights Watch, June 2007 * ''Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It''. Polipoint Press, June 2009 * ''Inside Obama's Brain''. Portfolio, December 2009 * ''The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives''. Nation Books, September 2013 * ''The House of Twenty Thousand Books'', a memoir of his grandfather,

. London : Halban, June 2014 * ''Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream'', a study of irrational fear in the United States. Nation Books, September 2017

Awards

In 2000, Abramsky received the

James Aronson Award The James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism has been awarded since 1990 to honor Hunter College Professor, James Aronson. This award honors original, written English-language reporting from the U.S. media that brings to light widespread ...

for his ''Atlantic Monthly'' article "When They Get Out". In 2016, his memoir ''The House of Twenty Thousand Books'', which describes the lives of his grandparents Chimen and Miriam Abramsky, received an honorable mention for that year's

Sophie Brody Medal The Sophie Brody Award is an annual award of the American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It ...

Personal life

As of 2015, he lives in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, California with his wife

Julie Sze Julie Sze is Professor of American Studies at University of California, Davis. Her research deals with environmental justice, inequality and culture; race, gender and power; and community health and activism. Education Sze grew up in the China ...

, an American studies professor at

, daughter, and son.

References

External links

* *
older official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abramsky, Sasha 1972 births Living people Journalists from London British Jewish writers British emigrants to the United States Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Writers from London University of California, Davis faculty