Howard Blum

{{infobox writer

| image =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}}

| birth_place =

| occupation = Author

| language = English

| nationality = American

| education = Horace Mann School

| alma_mater = Stanford University

| period =

| genre = Non-fiction

| spouse = Jane Davenport "Jenny" Cox (m. 1991; div.)

| children = Tony
Anna
Dani

| relatives =

| subject =

| notableworks = American Lightning

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime, 2009

| website = {{URL|www.howardblum.com}}

}}

Howard Blum ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|l|ʌ|m}}) (born 1948) is an American author and journalist. Formerly a reporter for The Village Voice{{cite web |url=http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=31105 |title=Terror Then, Stories Now |publisher=Stanford University |work=Stanford Magazine |date=September 2008 |access-date=January 28, 2013 |author=Whitty, Stephen |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507113039/http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=31105 |archivedate=7 May 2013 |url-status=dead }} and The New York Times, Blum is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair{{cite web |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/bios/bio_blum |title=Contributing Editor: Howard Blum |publisher=Condé Nast Digital |work=vanityfair.com |date=12 June 2008 |access-date=28 January 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114215600/http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/bios/bio_blum |archivedate=14 January 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/14468/Howard_Blum/index.aspx|title=Howard Blum profile|publisher=Harper Collins|access-date=6 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211211510/http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/14468/Howard_Blum/index.aspx|archive-date=11 December 2009|url-status=dead}} and the author of several non-fiction books, including the New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner American Lightning.{{cite web | url=http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php | title=Search the Edgar® Award Winners and Nominees | publisher=Mystery Writers of America | work=Edgars Database | access-date=January 28, 2013 | archive-date=September 27, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927165310/http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php | url-status=dead }}

Career

In 1986, Blum began working as a reporter for the New York Times, where he earned two Pulitzer Prize nominations. Since 1994, Blum has been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Several of his books were non-fiction bestsellers, including Gangland, Wanted, The Gold of Exodus, and The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII. Additionally, a number of his works have been optioned for film. Miramax Films purchased the rights from Blum for six figures to turn The Brigade into a major motion picture, although it seems the movie was never made.{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Michael |date=2000-01-06 |title=Blum’s ‘Brigade’ marching to Miramax |url=https://variety.com/2000/voices/columns/blum-s-brigade-marching-to-miramax-1117760489/ |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

Personal life

Blum is the son of Harold K. Blum (1917–1984), an executive at the Kane Miller Corporation in Tarrytown, New York,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/27/style/jenny-cox-is-wed-to-howard-blum.html?pagewanted=1 |title=Jenny Cox Is Wed To Howard Blum |date=27 July 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=28 January 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110065935/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/27/style/jenny-cox-is-wed-to-howard-blum.html |archivedate=10 November 2010 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/13/obituaries/harold-k-blum.html |title=Obituary: Harold K. Blum |work=The New York Times |date=13 November 1984 |access-date=January 28, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524153817/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/13/obituaries/harold-k-blum.html |archivedate=24 May 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JK5M-RYS | title=Harold Blum, 'United States Social Security Death Index' | publisher=FamilySearch | work=U.S. Social Security Administration - Death Master File | date=November 1984 | access-date=January 28, 2013}} and Gertrude Blum, a schoolteacher in New York City. For high school, Blum attended the Horace Mann School and earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, where he also received an M.A. in government in 1970. In January 1991, he married Jenny Cox, a book editor. They are divorced. He currently resides in Sag Harbor, New York and Connecticut.{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/howard-blum/ |title=20 Questions: Howard Blum |publisher=Popmatters Media, Inc. |work=Popmatters.com |date=15 September 2008 |access-date=January 28, 2013 |author=Zarker, Karen |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020214103/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/howard-blum/ |archivedate=20 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} Howard is the brother of celebrity wedding planner Marcy Blum.

Bibliography

Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America (1977), New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., {{ISBN|0812906071}}
Wishful Thinking (1985), New York: Atheneum Books, {{ISBN|0689115431}}
I Pledge Allegiance--: The True Story of the Walkers: An American Spy Family (1987), New York: Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|0671626140}}
Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials (1990), New York, Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|0671662600}}
Gangland: How the FBI Broke the Mob (1993), New York: Pocket Books, {{ISBN|0671900153}}
The Gold of Exodus: The Discovery of the True Mount Sinai (1998), New York: Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|0684809184}}
The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and World War II (2001), New York: HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0060194863}}
The Eve of Destruction: The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War (2003), New York: HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0060013990}}
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century (2008), New York: Crown Publishers, {{ISBN|0307346943}}
The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush (2011), New York: Crown Publishers, {{ISBN|0307461726}}
Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America (2014), New York: Crown Publishers, {{ISBN|0307461750}}
The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal (2016), HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0062307673}}
In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies (2018), HarperCollins Publishers, {{ISBN|0062458248}}
Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler's Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin (2020), HarperCollins Publishers.
The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal (2022), HarperCollins Publishers, {{ISBN|9780063054219}}
When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders (2024), HarperCollins Publishers