Sebastian de Grazia (1917–2000) was an American philosopher who was Professor of

Political Philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. He received the 1990

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir by an American author o ...

for his 1989 book '' Machiavelli in Hell''.

Biography

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, he received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he served in the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

, predecessor to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, as an analyst. From 1962 to 1988 he taught

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

. He is also the author of ''The Political Community'' (1948), ''Errors of Psychotherapy'' (1952), '' Of Time, Work, and Leisure'' (1962), and ''A Country with No Name'' (1997).

Leisure

De Grazia has been described as the "father of leisure". His book '' Of Time, Work, and Leisure'' (1962) puts forward the idea that traditionally

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Lei ...

was not a matter of recreation as much as of contemplation, of expanding one's awareness and understanding of the world, and that the social context of this understanding of leisure has to a large extent been lost, and with it the notion of leisure being the pursuit of philosophy.Sebastian de Grazia: Information and Much More from Answers.com
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Notes

References

*Associated Press. (January 5, 2001)
Pulitzer Prize winner Sebastian de Grazia dead at 83
''CNN''. *Haney, M. R. (2010). The Value of Slow. In M. R. Haney and A. D. Kline (Ed.), ''The Value of Time and Leisure in a World of Work''. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. . 1917 births 2000 deaths Writers from Chicago University of Chicago alumni People of the Office of Strategic Services Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners American male biographers American historians of philosophy American philosophy academics Rutgers University faculty American political scientists 20th-century political scientists {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub