David Margolick (born January 3, 1952) is an American journalist. He is long-time contributing editor at '' Vanity Fair''. Margolick has held similar positions at ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' and '' Portfolio.com''. Prior to joining ''Vanity Fair'' he was a legal affairs reporter at ''

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 ...

'', where he wrote the weekly “At the Bar" column and covered the trials of O.J. Simpson, Lorena Bobbitt, and William Kennedy Smith. In his fifteen years at the ''Times'', the paper entered his work four times for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

. He remains a frequent contributor to ''

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 ...

''. His work has also appeared in ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'', '' Tablet'', and ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

''.

Career

Margolick graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in 1970 and graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

with a B.A. and

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

with a J.D. degree. He is the author of ''Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns'', a biography of the controversial American author

John Horne Burns John Horne Burns (October 7, 1916 – August 11, 1953) was an American writer, the author of three novels. The first, ''The Gallery'' (1947), is his best known work, was very well received when published, and has been reissued several times. Bi ...

. Margolick is also the author of ''Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock'', a study of the principal figures in the iconic photograph from the 1957 school desegregation crisis and published in October 2011 by Yale University Press. In July 2011 his long-form article ''A Predator Priest'', about a family's long quest to bring a pedophile priest from Margolick's hometown of

Putnam, Connecticut Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 10,214 at the 2020 census. History Putnam, originally known as Aspinock, then part of Killi ...

, to justice was posted on Kindle Singles. An article he authored for ''

'' on the Community Concert series includes significant discussion of his mother's work for the program and photos he took of classical music performers who came to

, as a child. His prior books include ''Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink'', published by Knopf in 2005; ''

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song Protest song, protests the Lynch ...

: The Biography of a Song'' (2001); ''At the Bar: The Passions and Peccadillos of American Lawyers'' (1995); and ''Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune'' (1994). ''Strange Fruit'' won a 2001 Firecracker Alternative Book Award. Margolick is currently writing a book on

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950–1954) ...

’s ''

Your Show of Shows ''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Ho ...

'' for

Nextbook Nextbook is a nonprofit Jewish organization founded in 2003 by Elaine Bernstein's Keren Keshet Foundation to promote Jewish literacy and support Jewish literature, culture and ideas. The organization sponsors public lectures, commissions books o ...

’s Jewish Encounters Series (Schocken/Random House). He has been an adjunct professor in

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

’s Department of Journalism and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiners Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

Bibliography

*''The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy'' (RosettaBooks, April 2018) *''Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns'' (Other Press, June 2013) *''A Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock'' (Yale University Press, October 2011) * ''A Predator Priest'' (Kindle Singles, July 2011) *''Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink''Ray Robinson
"Sports History: Everyone Had a Stake in This Fight," '' American Heritage'', Nov./Dec. 2006. *''Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song'' (with

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yo ...

) (2000) *''At the Bar'' (1995) *''Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

Fortune'' (1994)

References

External links

* by Leon Charney on ''The Leon Charney Report'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Margolick, David Living people University of Michigan alumni Stanford Law School alumni American male journalists Loomis Chaffee School alumni Journalists from New York City 1952 births