David Hirshey is an American book editor and sportswriter. The senior vice president and executive editor of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

from 1998-2016, he was previously an editor for ''Esquire'' and the ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

''. At ''Esquire,'' he worked with writers including

Martin Amis Sir Martin Louis Amis (25 August 1949 – 19 May 2023) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter and critic. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and '' London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Mem ...

Richard Ben Cramer Richard Ben Cramer (June 12, 1950 – January 7, 2013) was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979 for his coverage of the Middle East. Biography Cramer was born and r ...

, Frederick Exley,

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe. Ford's first collection of short stories, ''Rock Springs (short stories), Rock Springs ...

David Halberstam David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and late ...

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

and

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (July 22, 1932 – February 9, 2025) was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). Robbins had lived in La Conner, Washington, since 1970, where he wrote nine of his ...

. An expert on soccer, Hirshey has written extensively on the sport for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog owned by Lineup Publishing. Founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and originally based in Chicago, it was then sold to Gawker Media, Univision Communications and G/O Media. Lineup Publishing acquired it in March 2024, t ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

.'' He co-wrote ''The ESPN World Cup Companion: Everything You Need To Know About The Planet's Biggest Sports Event,'' and appeared in '' Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos''. In 2022, he co-edited ''Pride of a Nation: A Celebration of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team,'' which ''Soccer America'' described as "the most compelling book ever written about any American soccer program.

Early life and education

Hirshey was born in New York City. His father, Max Hirshey, a former youth international soccer player, was the president of Swarovski Crystal US and his mother, Mara Hirshey, was a writer. Hirshey attended

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

, where he played varsity soccer for four years and wrote a weekly sports column for the student newspaper. He graduated with a BA in English.

Career

''New York Daily News, Esquire''

Following his graduation, Hirshey was hired as a reporter at ''

The New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format, and rea ...

'', where he covered major sporting events including The Olympics, The US Open, and the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

. In 1975 he broke the story that Pelé was coming to New York to play for the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

. In 1978, he was named editor of the paper's ''Sunday News Magazine.'' In that position, he worked with writers including Jimmy Breslin and

Pete Hamill William Peter Hamill (June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture the particular flavo ...

. Five of Hirshey's articles for the ''Daily News'' were anthologized in Houghton Mifflin's annual ''Best Sports Stories of the Year.'' Hirshey was hired by ''Esquire'' as a senior editor in 1984. Two years later he was promoted to articles editor, and in 1991 was named deputy editor. In addition to editing long form pieces in the magazine, he oversaw the annual "Dubious Achievement Awards" issue, which was described by ''

'' as "hands down, the funniest year end issue of them all."

''The New Yorker'', ''Harper Collins''

After leaving ''Esquire'' in 1997, Hirshey was hired as an editor at the ''New Yorker'', where he assigned, developed and edited articles on future trends in politics, science, business, entertainment, culminating with "The Next Issue." In 1998, he was named executive editor and vice president of HarperCollins Publishers. Promoted to senior vice president and executive editor in 2007, Hirshey specialized in politics, current affairs, sports, memoir, pop culture, and humor. Among others, Hirshey acquired and edited

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer. He gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer ...

's ''Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib'', Robert Kolker's ''Lost Girls: An Unsolved Mystery'', Jane Leavy's ''Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy,''

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

's ''The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee'', Dan Barry's ''Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game'', which won the 2013 Pen Award for literary sportswriting, and Allen Kurzweil's '' Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully'', the 2016

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

winner for best crime non-fiction. In May 2016, Hirshey announced that he would leave HarperCollins to relocate to Los Angeles. In late 2016 he was named a contributing editor at ''Esquire.''

''Kicking and Screaming'', ''Eight by Eight''

From 2010 through 2017, Hirshey wrote the weekly soccer column ''Kicking and Screaming'' for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

.com, In 2018, he became writer-at-large for the soccer magazine ''Eight by Eight.'' His 2019 interview with

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

went viral and ignited a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

feud with then-president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Bibliography

Selected bibliography as editor

* Jane Leavy (2002), ''Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy'', HarperCollins, * Jane Leavy (2010), ''The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood,'' HarperCollins, * Dan Barry (2012), ''Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game'', HarperCollins, * Dan Barry (2016), ''The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland'',HarperCollins, * Seymour M. Hersh (2004), ''Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib'', HarperCollins, * Michael Finkel (2005), ''True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa'', HarperCollins, *

Will Blythe Will Blythe is a magazine writer and book author living in New York City. He is the editor of Byliner.com, a former literary editor at ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'' magazine, and a contributing editor for Harper's and Mirabella. He writes for ...

(2006), ''To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever,'' Harper Collins, * Jeff MacGregor (2005), ''Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death! a Hot Lap Around America with NASCAR'', HarperCollins, *

George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Pr ...

(2007), ''At The Center of The Storm: My Years at the CIA'', HarperCollins, *

(2012), ''The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee'', HarperCollins, * Robert Kolker (2013), ''Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery'', HarperCollins, * Scott Saul (2014), ''Becoming Richard Pryor'', HarperCollins, * Jeff Passan (2016), ''The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports'', HarperCollins, * Ariel Leve (2016), ''An Abbreviated Life: A Memoir'', HarperCollins, *

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

(2012), ''Who I Am: A Memoir'', HarperCollins, * Scott Raab (2011), ''The Whore of Akron: One Man's Search for the Soul of LeBron James'', HarperCollins, * Nate Jackson (2013), ''Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile'', HarperCollins, * Allen Kurzweil (2015), ''Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year- Old Bully'', HarperCollins, * Jason Zinoman (2017) ''Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night'' HarperCollins, * Gwendolyn Oxenham (2022), "Pride of a Nation. A Celebration of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team", Penguin Random House

Bibliography as co-author

* Bodo, Peter & David Hirshey with

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

(1977), ''Pele's New World'', Norton, * Messing, Shep & David Hirshey (1978), ''The Education of An American Soccer Player'', Dodd, Mead and Company, * Hirshey, David and Roger Bennett (2010) ''The ESPN World Cup Companion: Everything You Need to Know About the Planet's Biggest Sports Event,'' ESPN,

Filmography

* '' Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos'' (2006)

References

External links

Kicking and Screaming
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirshey, David Dickinson College alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)