David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

historian and television commentator, the president of the

International Society of Olympic Historians The International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 with the purpose of promoting and studying the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games. The majority of recent books on the Olympic Games have been ...

(ISOH) and the founder and

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of AllGov.com and worldfilmreviews.us.

Early life

Wallechinsky was born in Los Angeles to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, the son of writer Sylvia Kahn and the author and screenwriter

Irving Wallace Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. Early life Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss a ...

. His younger sister was fellow author

Amy Wallace Amy Wallace (July 3, 1955 – August 10, 2013) was an American writer. She was the daughter of writers Irving Wallace and Sylvia Wallace and the sister of writer and populist historian David Wallechinsky. She was co-author of the bestsellin ...

, a "witch" of

Carlos Castaneda Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer. Starting with '' The Teachings of Don Juan'' in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that purport to describe training in shamanism that he received under the ...

who co-wrote many books with him and their father and authored ''Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda'' in 2003. One day, after he got off an airplane in Britain, the customs officer looked at his passport and remarked, "Ah Wallace, a good Scottish boy coming home." Disquieted, back in the States he discovered that the original family name was Wallechinsky and he adopted that moniker. He was educated at Palisades High School in

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. Pacific Palisades was formally founded in 1921 by a Methodist organization, and in the years that followed bec ...

, California, graduating in 1965. One of his classmates was the future film critic and talk radio host

Michael Medved Michael Saul Medved (born October 3, 1948) is an American radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic. His talk show, ''The Michael Medved Show'', is syndicated from his home station KTTH in Seattle. It is syndicated via Gen ...

, and they later wrote ''

What Really Happened to the Class of '65 ''What Really Happened to the Class of '65?'' is a 1976 non-fiction book by Michael Medved and David Wallechinsky. The authors were members of the senior class at Palisades High School in affluent suburban Los Angeles, California, which had been ...

'', based on a series of interviews with their former classmates.

Career

In 1973, Wallechinsky grew dismayed with almanacs that, in his opinion, rehashed bare facts. He began developing an idea for a reference book to be read for pleasure, that would include lesser-known history. He worked on the book for a year, before being joined by his father for an additional year of research. ''

The People's Almanac ''The People's Almanac'' is a series of three books compiled in 1975, 1978 and 1981 by David Wallechinsky and his father Irving Wallace. In 1973, Wallechinsky became fed up with almanacs that regurgitated bare facts. He had the idea for a refe ...

'' was published by Doubleday in 1975 and became a best-seller. One of the most popular chapters was a selection of lists, leading Wallechinsky (in conjunction with his father and sister Amy) to write ''

The Book of Lists The ''Book of Lists'' refers to any one of a series of books compiled by David Wallechinsky, his father Irving Wallace and sister Amy Wallace. Each book contains hundreds of lists (many accompanied by textual explanations) on unusual or obscur ...

'', which became an international best-seller. Both books spawned not only follow-up editions but copycat titles such as ''The Ethnic Almanac'', ''The Jewish Almanac'', and ''The Book Of TV Lists''. In 1960, Wallechinsky's father took him to the

Rome Olympic Games The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. In 1984, he published the first edition of his work ''The Complete Book of the Olympics'', a reference work with full results and many anecdotes about the modern Games. The book became unwieldy so was later split into two volumes ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'' and ''The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics'' series. Wallechinsky now shares the editorial duties with his nephew Jaime Loucky. The books led to work for Wallechinsky as an Olympic commentator for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. In 1985, Wallechinsky followed the book previously co-authored with Medved with a sequel, going back to his high school graduation year contemporaries and solely writing a similar retrospective ''Midterm Report: The Class of '65: Chronicles of an American Generation'' about pupils from across America who left high school in that year. He interviewed twenty-eight of those 1965 graduates including President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

's son

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

, and Rhode Island's then-congressional Representative

Claudine Schneider Claudine Schneider (née Cmarada; born March 25, 1947) is an American economist and former politician who served as a Republican U.S. representative from Rhode Island. She was the first, and to date only, woman elected to Congress from Rhode Isl ...

. It was later published as "Class Reunion '65, Tales of an American Generation," written from the perspective of two decades post-high school graduation. In the book, Wallechinsky noted the profound impact that the war on Viet Nam had on the lives of his interview subjects.Midterm Report, the Class of ’65: CHRONICLE OF AN AMERICAN GENERATION by David Wallechinsky
''

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 ...

'', Charles Trueheart, September 28, 1986. Retrieved February 8, 2021. In 1991, he was one of the founding members of the

(ISOH). He served as treasurer of the organization from 1996 to 2004, vice-president from 2004 to 2012, then served as the organization's president. Wallechinsky is the founder of AllGov.com, which provides news about various departments and agencies of the American government. AllGov describes the functions of each agency, their histories, and controversies, and shares critiques and suggested reforms from both the left and the right. He has compiled the list of "The World’s 10 Worst Dictators" for ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine for a number of years. In 2006, this subject became a book entitled: ''Tyrants: The World’s 20 Worst Living Dictators''.

Personal life

Wallechinsky is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and is married to Flora Chavez. They have two sons: Elijah Chavez Wallechinsky, born in 1983, and Aaron Chavez Wallechinsky. born in 1986. Both brothers are photographers and designers. Wallechinsky splits his time between

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

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 the south of France.

Bibliography

*''Chico's Organic Gardening and Natural Living'' (1972) With Frank "Chico" Bucaro *''Laughing Gas: Nitrous Oxide'', with Michael Sheldin and Saunie Salyer (

And/Or Press And/Or Press was an independent small press publisher based in the San Francisco Bay Area that operated from 1974 to 1983. The company published books on personal development, guides to the countercultural lifestyle, and consciousness expansion. A ...

, 1973) *''

'' ( Doubleday, 1975) (with

) *''

What Really Happened to the Class of '65? ''What Really Happened to the Class of '65?'' is a 1976 non-fiction book by Michael Medved and David Wallechinsky. The authors were members of the senior class at Palisades High School in affluent suburban Los Angeles, California, which had been ...

'' (1976) (with

) *''

'' ( William Morrow, 1977) (with

and

) *''The People's Almanac #2'' (William Morrow, 1978) (with

) *'' The Book of Lists #2'' (William Morrow, 1980) (with

and Sylvia Wallace) *''The Book of Predictions'' (1980) (with

and

) *''The People's Almanac #3'' (William Morrow, 1981) (with

) *''The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People'' (Delacorte, 1981) (with

and Sylvia Wallace) *'' The Book of Lists #3'' (William Morrow, 1983) (with

and

) *''Significa'' (Dutton, 1983) (with

and

) *''The Complete Book of the Olympics'' (Penguin, 1984) *''Midterm Report: The Class of '65: Chronicles Of An American Generation'' (1986); later published as Class Reunion '65, Tales of an American Generation *''The Book of Lists: The '90s Edition'' (Little, Brown, 1993) (with

) *''The People's Almanac Presents The 20th Century: History With The Boring Parts Left Out'' (Little, Brown, 1999) *''The New Book of Lists'' (2005) (with

) *''Tyrants: The World’s 20 Worst Living Dictators'' (ReganBooks, 2006) *''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'' (various editions) (with Jaime Loucky) *''The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics'' (various editions) (with Jaime Loucky)

References

External links

* Wallechinsky, David
PARADE’s Annual List Of...The World’s 10 Worst Dictators

Blog
at the

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

*
Interview with David Wallechinsky
by Dave Carlson, ''A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour'' TV Series, Episode #60 (1993) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallechinsky, David 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American information and reference writers Almanac compilers American sportswriters Jewish American historians American historians * Recipients of the Olympic Order San Francisco State University alumni 1948 births Living people 21st-century American Jews