David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American popular historian and television commentator, the co-founder and past president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of AllGov.com and worldfilmreviews.us.

Early life

Wallechinsky was born in Los Angeles to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

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, a "witch" of Carlos Castaneda 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 the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affected and destroyed by ...

, California, graduating in 1965. One of his classmates was the future film critic and talk radio host Michael Medved, and they later wrote '' What Really Happened to the Class of '65'', 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 ref ...

'' 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'', 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. 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 American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. 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. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

's son Jack, and Rhode Island's then-congressional Representative Claudine Schneider. 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

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Charles Trueheart, September 28, 1986. Retrieved February 8, 2021. In 1991, he was one of the founding members of the International Society of Olympic Historians (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, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' 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 Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and married to Flora Chavez (1946 to 2023). 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 language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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, 1973) *''

'' ( Doubleday, 1975) (with

) *'' What Really Happened to the Class of '65?'' (1976) (with Michael Medved) *'' The Book of Lists'' ( William Morrow, 1977) (with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and Amy Wallace) *''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 Amy Wallace) *''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 Amy Wallace) *''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'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

*
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 Jewish American historians Jewish American sportswriters History of the Olympics Recipients of the Olympic Order San Francisco State University alumni 1948 births Living people 21st-century American Jews Olympics people Jews from California Sports historians