The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by

André Schiffrin André Schiffrin (June 14, 1935 – December 1, 2013)Robert D. McFadde ''New York Times'', December 1, 2013 was a French-American author, publisher and socialist. Life Schiffrin was born in Paris, the son of Jacques Schiffrin, a Russian Jew w ...

New Press Founder André Schiffrin Dead at 78
,

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

. Accessed August 1, 2014. (

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

) and Diane Wachtell,Robert D. McFadde
"André Schiffrin, Publishing Force and a Founder of New Press, Is Dead at 78"
''

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 ...

'', December 1, 2013 publishing many books with a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political viewpoint.

Details

In 1990

resigned as editor-in-chief of

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

and within two years raised enough money to launch the New Press, with former Pantheon editor Diane Wachtell. Many of Schiffrin's authors from Pantheon, including

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral h ...

, left to join him.Remembering André Schiffrin
,

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 ...

. Accessed August 1, 2014. The New Press is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to publish books that "promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy and to a more equitable world." Schiffrin compared The New Press's role to that of public television, radio, and

university press A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...

es, focusing it on books with riskier subjects; many New Press books have promoted

social activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and liberal causes, which Calvin Reid of ''

'' has characterized as the publisher's main mission. The New Press's business model combines publishing revenue with philanthropic grants, and it has long focused on academic partnerships as well as staff and author diversity, running an intern program aimed at attracting candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds to the publishing industry. Victor Navasky, writing in ''

'' in 2013, called it "a bold experiment in nonprofit, relatively radical book publishing," whose fifty books published per year were "virtually all ..of social consequence." Schiffrin was editor in chief for more than a decade, and remained "founding director and editor at large" until his death in 2013. In 2020 the board of directors included Gara Lamarche, Theodore M. Shaw, Sarah Burnes, Amy Glickman, and Diane Wachtell. Notable New Press authors include

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

and

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

John W. Dower John W. Dower (born June 21, 1938 in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American author and historian. His 1999 book '' Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II'' won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction, National Book Foundatio ...

's '' Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II'' was published by New Press and won the

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published duri ...

in 2000. Best selling New Press books include ''

The Good War ''"The Good War": An Oral History of World War II'' (1984) is an oral history of World War II compiled by Studs Terkel. The work received the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. ''"The Good War"'' consists of a series of interviews wi ...

'' by Studs Terkel; ''

The New Jim Crow ''The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness'' is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in ...

'' by

Michelle Alexander Michelle Alexander (born October 7, 1967) is an American writer and civil rights activist. She is best known for her 2010 book '' The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness''. Since 2018, she has been an opinion columnist ...

; and ''

Understanding Power ''Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky'', published in 2002, is a collection of previously unpublished transcripts of seminars, talks, and question-and-answer sessions conducted by Noam Chomsky from 1989 to 1999. The transcripts were co ...

'' by

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

. Three New Press books were featured in ''

'''s Best Books of 2018: Sohaila Abdulali's ''What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape,'' AERA president Vanessa Siddle Walker’s ''The Lost Education of Horace Tate,'' and

Patrick Chamoiseau Patrick Chamoiseau (born 3 December 1953) is a French author from Martinique known for his work in the créolité movement. His work spans a variety of forms and genres, including novels, essays, children's books, screenplays, theatre and comics. ...

’s ''Slave Old Man.''

Awards

New Press books that have won awards: *1994: George Wittenborn Memorial Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America for ''Mining the Museum: an Installation by Fred Wilson'', edited by Lisa G. Corrin. *1994: Lincoln Prize in Civil War History for ''Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War'' edited by Ira Berlin,

Barbara Fields Barbara Jeanne Fields (born 1947 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a professor of American history at Columbia University. Her focus is on the history of the American South, 19th century social history, and the transition to capitalism in the Uni ...

, Steven Miller, Joseph Reidy and Leslie Rowland. *1996:

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

's Infinity Award for Writing to ''Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography'' by Deborah Willis.Infinity Awards 1985–1995
,

. August 1, 2014. * 2000:

for

's '' Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II''. *2015: Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association to Nell Bernstein. ''Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison.'' *2015:

Martin Duberman Martin Bauml Duberman (born August 6, 1930) is an American historian, biographer, playwright, and gay rights activist. Duberman is Professor of History Emeritus at Herbert Lehman College in the Bronx, New York City. Early life Duberman was born ...

named an Honor Book for the

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbow ...

, ''Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS''

References

External links

*
Finding aid to New Press records at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Press 1992 establishments in New York City Book publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1992