Martin A. Lee is an American author and activist who has written books and articles on

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

movements,

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

issues, and

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhala ...

politics.

Education and career

Lee has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He has been a guest teacher-in-residence at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

and has lectured at many colleges and universities, including

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

, and the

American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the fir ...

. In 1994 he was given the Pope Foundation Award for Investigative Journalism. Lee was a co-founder of the media watch group

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning media critique organization based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccu ...

(FAIR), a group formed in 1986 to combat perceived corporate and establishment

media bias Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening o ...

. He was the first full-time editor of FAIR's magazine ''

Extra! ''Extra!'' is a monthly magazine of media criticism published by the media watch group FAIR. First published in 1987, its first full-time editor was Martin A. Lee. Since 1990, it has been edited by Jim Naureckas. The magazine covers a wide vari ...

'', and later served as the publication's publisher. Lee's first book, '' Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion'' (co-authored with Bruce Shlain), was published in 1985 by Grove Press. Covering

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

's use by both the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. H ...

of the 1960s and by the

CIA 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, ...

mind control Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...

experiments. Lee's second book, ''Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media'' (co-authored with

Norman Solomon Norman Solomon (born July 7, 1951) is an American journalist, media critic, activist, and former U.S. congressional candidate. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). In 1997 he founde ...

), was both a distillation and expansion of his work with FAIR. Published in 1990 by Lyle Stuart, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' called the book "a worthy addition to the library of any student of American news media, social structure and political science." Lee's third book, '' The Beast Reawakens'', an in-depth examination of the resurgence of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

, was published by Little, Brown in 1997; a revised paperback edition was issued by Routledge in 2000. Calling it a "compelling, intelligent investigation which reads more like a thriller than a history lesson," ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' said it "contributes much toward understanding the politics of hatred." ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' described it as "a vivid survey of fascist resurgence."

Joshua Rubenstein Joshua Rubenstein is an American activist, writer and scholar of literature, dissent, and politics in the former Soviet Union. He won a National Jewish Book Award in Eastern European studies in 2002 for his book ''Stalin’s Secret Pogrom''. Bi ...

, "Hitler's Legacy", ''The New York Times'', Section 7, p. 29, September 21, 1997.

Bibliography

* 1985 – ''Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties Rebellion'' – co-authored with Bruce Shlain (

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United Sta ...

) * 1990 – ''Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media'' – co-authored with

( Lyle Stuart) * 1997 – '' The Beast Reawakens'' (

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

) * 2000 – '' The Beast Reawakens'' (revised paperback edition:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

) * 2012 – ''Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational, and Scientific'' ( Scribner, August 2012)

Notes

External links

''Acid Dreams''
website for the book
''Extra!''
web page for the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

that Lee founded {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Martin A. 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American investigative journalists American psychedelic drug advocates University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people