Eric Lax is an American author who has written books on modern medicine, four books on

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

including a biography, and a personal memoir ''Faith: Interrupted'' about his loss of Christian faith.

Biography

Lax was raised in an Episcopalian family and graduated from

Hobart College Hobart College may refer to: * Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges are Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to G ...

in 1966 with a major in English. Upon graduating, he joined the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

serving in Chuuk and the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...

in the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. After completing his two-year placement, he worked in Washington D.C. on the Peace Corps staff in a capacity that allowed him to travel to more than 40 countries.William Smith Centennial :: William Smith Leaders : Eric Lax ’66
/ref> He left the Peace Corps in 1970 to pursue writing full-time, and his interest in

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

led to his first book, ''On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy'' in 1975, which was part biography of

and part general treatise on comedy. Lax also interviewed Groucho Marx for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' during the veteran comedian's 1972 trip to perform in

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. In 1984, Lax wrote ''Life and Death on 10 West'' about the

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoieti ...

transplantation ward at the UCLA Medical Center, which was headed at the time by his college classmate Robert Peter Gale. It was recognized by ''

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 read ...

'' as one of the Notable Books of the Year and received an award from the Leukemia Society of America. Lax's books include ''The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat'', about the development of penicillin; ''Woody Allen: A Biography'' and ''Conversations with Woody Allen'', which comprises 40 years of interviews with Allen. With

Ann M. Sperber Ann M. Sperber (born Aenne Sperber; June 20, 1935 – February 11, 1994) was an American author known for her biographies of Edward R. Murrow and Humphrey Bogart. A native of Vienna, Sperber graduated from Barnard College and was a Fulbright Scho ...

, he is the co-author of ''Bogart''. In addition to writing his books, Lax has written articles that have appeared in several periodical publications including ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', '' Vanity Fair'', ''

'', ''

The Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an altern ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. He has worked as a contributing editor of ''

Esquire magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under ...

''. He is a past president of PEN Center USA, is currently a Vice President of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

and a member of the board of ''The Los Angeles Review of Books''.

Personal life

In 1982, Lax married Karen Alden Sulzberger, daughter of the late Arthur Sulzberger, publisher 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 ...

and sister of current ''Times'' publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. in an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

ceremony officiated by Bishop

Harold B. Robinson Harold Barrett Robinson (June 14, 1922 - May 5, 1994) was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York from 1970 to 1988, and served as an assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York from 1989 to 1993. Biography Robinson was born ...

. They have two sonshttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm1404168/ accessed 16 February 2008 and live in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

Bibliography

*(1969) ''The U.S. Overseas: Pinpoints on the Pacific'', Time Life Books, New York, pages 130-131, Library of Congress CC number 69-16543. *(1975) ''On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy'', Charterhouse, New York, . *(1984) ''Life and Death on 10 West'', 267 pp., Times Books, . *(1991) ''Woody Allen: A Biography'', 439 pp., Alfred A. Knopf Inc. (New York). *(1992) ''Woody Allen: A Biography'' 2nd Ed., 439 pp., Vintage Books. *(1996) ''Paul Newman: A Biography'', 192 pp., Turner Publishing, . *(1997) with Ann M. Sperber, ''Bogart'', 676 pp., Morrow, . *(1998) ''Newman: Paul Newman - A Celebration'', Pavilion, . *(2000) ''Woody Allen: A Biography'' 3rd Ed., 439 pp., Da Capo Press, . *(2004) "The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle", Henry Holt, *(2004) ''The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle'', 389 pp., Little Brown, . *(2005) "The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle"', 308 pp.,Owl Books/Henry Holt, *(2007) ''Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking'', 416 pp., Knopf, . *(2009) ''Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking. Updated and expanded'', 416 pp., Knopf, *(2010) ''Faith, Interrupted'', Knopf *(2011) "Faith Interrupted", Vintage *(2013) “Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know”, with Robert Peter Gale, MD,Ph.D, 274 pp., Knopf *(2013) "Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know," 274 pp., Vintage Books *(2017) ''Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking'',368 pp. Knopf, *(2017) "Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking"' 368 pp., Vintage,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lax, Eric Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American biographers Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni Sulzberger family