David Obst is an American literary agent and author. Obst was the agent of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. He also was involved in the productions of the films ''

Revenge of the Nerds ''Revenge of the Nerds'' is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, and Bernie Casey. The film's plot chronicles a group of nerds at the fictional Adams College trying ...

'', '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', and '' All the President's Men''.

Early life

According to Alex Kyczynski of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Obst says he was born in 1946, in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

.Stiehm, Jamie.
'Too Good to Be Forgotten': the '60s, with joy
" ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

''. December 13, 1998. Retrieved on August 9, 2014. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Around 1969 Obst went to Taiwan to study the Chinese language and later moved to Washington, DC where he became

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he receive ...

's literary agent. Obst had also associated with activist

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading propone ...

. Obst wrote the memoir "'' Too Good To Be Forgotten: Changing America in the '60s and '70s"'', which was published in 1998. In a review of the book, Hersh stated that Obst was "in the middle of" important political movements in the 1960s and 1970s. By 1977 Obst had about 50 clients. On 1 February 1977 an article was published in the New York Magazine by Matthew Klein, stating that "David Obst, superagent, becomes David Obst, publisher, with a family attachment to Random House. Obst stated that he had less success as a publisher compared to being an agent. He did however publish a series of books called

Roadfood ''Roadfood'' is a series of books by Jane and Michael Stern originally published in 1977. The term Roadfood was coined by the Sterns to describe the regional cuisine they discovered when they began driving around America in the early 1970s. Thei ...

, a guide to highway restaurants. In 1998 Obst further explained the idea Deep Throat was non-existent in a New York Times interview. This was originally revealed in Too Good To Be Forgotten

Personal life

Obst married and later divorced Lynda Obst. As of 1998 he lived in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...

Publications

* '' Too Good to Be Forgotten''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obst, David Living people American writers People from Santa Barbara, California University of California, Berkeley alumni 1946 births