Michael Kernan
{{about||his father, the American politician from New York|Michael J. Kernan}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Michael Kernan
| honorific_suffix =
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| birth_name = Michael Jenkins Kernan Jr.
| birth_date = April 29, 1927
| birth_place = Utica, New York
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|05|04|1927|04|29}}
| death_place = Bennington, Vermont
| death_cause =
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| occupation = journalist
| years_active = 1949-1994
| employer = Washington Post
| known_for = Style section
| notable_works =
| spouse =
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| children =
| parents = Michael J. Kernan Sr.
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Michael Jenkins Kernan Jr. (April 29, 1927 – May 4, 2005) was an American author and journalist.
{{cite news
| first = Matt
| last = Schudel
| title = Michael Kernan, Post Style Writer for 20 Years, Dies
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501879.html
| date = 6 May 2005}}
Background
Kernan was born in Utica, New York and grew up outside Clinton, Oneida County, New York. His father, Michael J. Kernan (1884–1953), was a stockbroker and member of the New York State Senate.
{{cite web
| url = http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/NY/ofc/stsen1930s.html
| title = New York: State Senate, 1930s
| publisher = Political Graveyard
| accessdate = 30 August 2013}} His great-grandfather Francis Kernan (1816–1892) was a U.S. Senator (D-NY). Kernan graduated from Harvard University in 1949.
Career
Kernan worked for the Watertown Daily Times from 1949 until 1953. From 1953 to 1966 he was an editor and reporter for the Redwood City Tribune, a paper in California.
In 1967, Kernan began work at The Washington Post. In 1969, he became one of the founding journalists of the new Post's Style section. He would remain at the Post in the Style section for the rest of his primary career, writing articles on a wide variety of subjects, including about his speech impediment of stuttering. Kernan's final story as a staff writer was on June 18, 1989.
Benjamin C. Bradlee, executive editor of The Post, described Kernan as a "poet in newspaperman's clothing." Mary Hadar, former editor of the Post's Style section, said "He was a glorious writer who could make anything interesting." The Post published a special appreciation for Kernan.
{{cite news
| first = Henry
| last = Allen
| title = Appreciation: Michael Kernan: The Features of a Born Storyteller
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41560-2005May6.html
| date = 6 May 2005}}
Works
Kernan published a work of non-fiction The Violet Dots (1978) about a British soldier who fought in the Battle of the Somme in World War I and the novels The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals (1994) and Before(2001) (a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island .
{{cite web
| url = http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=873
| title = The Violet Dots
| date = 5 March 2011
| publisher = Neglected Books
| accessdate = 30 August 2013}}
He published more than 100 articles for the Smithsonian Magazine, including seven years writing the "Around the Mall and Beyond" column.
Some of his articles for the Washington Post include:
- "A Literary Skirmish Over Hiss" (review of Perjury by Allen Weinstein)
{{cite news
| first = Michael
| last = Kernan
| title = A Literary Skirmish Over Hiss
| newspaper = Washington Post
| url = http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/H%20Disk/Hiss%20Alger/Item%2013.pdf
| date = 6 April 1978}}
- "War Casualty" (Review of Let There Be Light by John Huston, republished in 2012 from 1981)
{{cite news
| first = Michael
| last = Kernan
| title = Mortal Thoughts
| newspaper =The Washington Post
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/1981-review-of-let-the-be-light-war-casualty/2012/05/24/gJQAPaQ6lU_story.html
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130831023128/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-24/politics/35456125_1_john-huston-walter-huston-war-casualty
| url-status = live
| archive-date = August 31, 2013
| date =February 12, 1981}}
{{cite news
| first = Michael
| last = Kernan
| title = Mortal Thoughts
| newspaper =The Washington Post
| date = 29 September 2004
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58400-2004Sep28.html}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629052736/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/results.html?st=advanced&uid=&MAC=50a23aa1f3f5c6104e90e36051420d61&QryTxt=Michael+Kernan&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=01&fromday=01&fromyear=1877&tomonth=12&today=31&toyear=1989&By=Michael+Kernan&Title=&restrict=articles Works by Michael Kernan] at The Washington Post
- [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/search/?keyword=michael+kernan Works by Michael Kernan] at Smithsonian Magazine
- Washington Post [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/orb/style/2005-05-06/4.htm headshot 1], [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/style/2005-05-06/4.htm headshot 2], [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/metro/2005-05-06/11.htm headshot 3]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kernan, Michael}}