Joel Carmichael
{{short description|American historian (1915–2006)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Joel Carmichael
| birth_name = Joel Lipsky
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|12|31}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|01|27|1915|12|31}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| occupation = historian, magazine editor, translator
| education =
| alma_mater =
| period =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = The Death of Jesus
| spouse = Mary Carr Thomas,
Elizabeth de Cuevas
| children = 3
| relatives = Eleazar Lipsky (brother), David Lipsky (brother)
}}
Joel Carmichael (December 31, 1915 – January 27, 2006) was an American historian, magazine editor, and translator.
Biography
=Early life and education=
Born Joel Lipsky on December 31, 1915, in New York City, Carmichael was the youngest son of Charlotte Schacht and Louis Lipsky, a founder of the American Zionist movement, President of the Zionist Organization of America. His oldest brother, David (1907–1996) became a publicist; his middle brother, Eleazar (1911–1993), was a lawyer, novelist, journalist, playwright and active Zionist.{{cite web |title=Guide to the Lipsky Family Papers, 1904-1992 (bulk 1925-1992) |url=http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=384587 |publisher=Center for Jewish History }}
Following graduation from high school, he was sent for a year to Palestine. There he began learning Arabic before returning to New York and attending Columbia University. In England, a chance meeting with an Oxford don turned him to read Greek and Russian at Oxford.{{cite news |first=Erika |last=Duncan |title=ENCOUNTERS; Separating History From Conditions of Religion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/19/nyregion/encounters-separating-history-from-conditions-of-religion.html?pagewanted=all |work=New York Times |date=1995-03-19 }}
=Career=
His first book, a translation of a memoir of the Russian Revolution, helped Carmichael land a contract with Oxford University Press. From there, he wrote numerous titles on early Christianity, Arab history and Russian history, and translated Anna Karenina for a new paperback edition. One book, The Death of Jesus, was translated into eight languages. Carmichael was also editor of Midstream, a Zionist magazine, for 24 years, serving from 1975–1988 and 1990-2001.
=Marriage and family=
Carmichael was married twice: first to the journalist Mary Carr Thomas, then to sculptor Elizabeth de Cuevas in 1960.{{cite news |title=Joel Carmichael Weds Mrs. Elizabeth Faure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/30/archives/joel-carmichael-weds-mrs-elizabeth-faure.html |work=New York Times |date=1960-04-30 |page=20}} He had three children.
His granddaughter is the filmmaker Emily Carmichael.
=Death=
Carmichael died January 27, 2006, in Manhattan.
Published works
- An Illustrated History of Russia (Reynal, 1960){{cite news |first=Harrison E. |last=Salisbury |title=Background for Today; AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF RUSSIA. |work=New York Times |date=1960-10-02 }}
- The Eichmann Case: Reactions in West Germany (Marstin Press, 1961)
- Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Several Hands with Meyer Wolfe Weisgal and David Ben-Gurion (1962)
- The Death of Jesus (Macmillan, 1963){{cite news |first=Clarence |last=Seidenspinner |title=Jesus Interpreted as a Revolutionist |work=Chicago Tribune |date=1963-02-17}}
- A Short History of the Russian Revolution (Nelson, 1964)
- The Shaping of the Arabs: A Study in Ethnic Identity[http://www.librarything.com/work/357269 LibraryThing's recommendations machine] (Macmillan, 1967)
- Karl Marx: The Passionate Logician (Scribner, 1967)
- Open Letter to Moses and Mohammed (J.H. Heineman, 1968)
- A Cultural History of Russia (Weybright and Talley, 1968)
- Trotsky: an Appreciation of His Life (St. Martin's Press, 1975)
- Stalin's Masterpiece (St. Martin's Press, 1976)
- Arabs Today (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977)
- The Birth of Christianity: Reality and Myth (Hippocrene Books, 1989)
- A History of Russia (Hippocrene Books, 1990)
- The Satanizing of the Jews: Origin and Development of Mystical Anti-Semitism (Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1992)
- The Unriddling of Christian Origins: A Secular Account (Prometheus Books, 1995)
=Translations=
- Carl Brockelmann, History of the Islamic Peoples (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939)
- N. N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution: A Personal Record (Oxford, 1955){{cite news |first=Bertram D. |last=Wolfe |title=A BUSYBODY'S NOTES ON REVOLUTION; One Man's Account of the Scenes, Moods And Deeds in Russia's Year of Decision |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/15/archives/a-busybodys-notes-on-revolution-one-mans-account-of-the-scenes.html |work=New York Times |date=1955-05-15 }}
- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (Bantam, 1960)
- Dan Theodore, The Origins of Bolshevism (Secker & Warburg, 1964)
- Gisela Elsner, The Giant Dwarfs (Grove Press, 1965){{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Baumbach |title=Weird Like Reality; THE GIANT DWARFS: A Contribution. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/13/archives/weird-like-reality-the-giant-dwarfs-a-contribution-by-gisela-elsner.html |work=New York Times |date=1965-06-13 }}
- Paul Marc Henry, Africa Aeterna: The Pictorial Chronicle of a Continent (Sedo S.A., 1965)
- Jean Lacouture, Vietnam: Between Two Truces, trans. w. Kellen Konrad (Vintage Books/Random House, 1966)
- Willy Brandt, A Peace Policy for Europe (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968)
{{Expand list|date=February 2011}}
See also
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=384587 Lipsky Family Papers]; P-858; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138438/
- http://www.nybooks.com/authors/1261
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmichael, Joel}}
Category:American magazine editors
Category:French–English translators
Category:German–English translators
Category:Jewish American historians
Category:Russian–English translators
Category:20th-century American historians
Category:20th-century American translators
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers