Joel Carmichael (December 31, 1915 – January 27, 2006) was an American historian, magazine editor, and translator.

Biography

Early life and education

Born Joel Lipsky on December 31, 1915, in New York City, Carmichael was the youngest son of Charlotte Schacht and Louis Lipsky, a founder of the American

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

movement, President of the Zionist Organization of America. His oldest brother, David (1907–1996) became a publicist; his middle brother,

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from ...

(1911–1993), was a lawyer, novelist, journalist, playwright and active Zionist. Following graduation from high school, he was sent for a year to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. There he began learning Arabic before returning to New York and attending

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. In England, a chance meeting with an Oxford don turned him to read Greek and Russian at Oxford.

Career

His first book, a translation of a memoir of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, helped Carmichael land a contract with

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. From there, he wrote numerous titles on

early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

, Arab history and

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

, and translated '' Anna Karenina'' for a new paperback edition. One book, ''The Death of Jesus'', was translated into eight languages. Carmichael was also editor of '' Midstream'', a Zionist magazine, for 24 years, serving from 1975–1988 and 1990-2001.

Marriage and family

Carmichael was married twice: first to the journalist Mary Carr Thomas, then to sculptor Elizabeth de Cuevas in 1960. He had three children. His granddaughter is the filmmaker Emily Carmichael.

Death

Carmichael died January 27, 2006, in Manhattan.

Published works

*''An Illustrated History of Russia'' (Reynal, 1960) *''The Eichmann Case: Reactions in West Germany'' (Marstin Press, 1961) *''Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Several Hands'' with Meyer Wolfe Weisgal and David Ben-Gurion (1962) *''The Death of Jesus'' (Macmillan, 1963) *''A Short History of the Russian Revolution'' (Nelson, 1964) *''The Shaping of the Arabs: A Study in Ethnic Identity'' (Macmillan, 1967) *''Karl Marx: The Passionate Logician'' (Scribner, 1967) *''Open Letter to Moses and Mohammed'' (J.H. Heineman, 1968) *''A Cultural History of Russia'' (Weybright and Talley, 1968) *''Trotsky: an Appreciation of His Life'' (St. Martin's Press, 1975) *''Stalin's Masterpiece'' (St. Martin's Press, 1976) *''Arabs Today'' (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977) *''The Birth of Christianity: Reality and Myth'' (Hippocrene Books, 1989) *''A History of Russia'' (Hippocrene Books, 1990) *''The Satanizing of the Jews: Origin and Development of Mystical Anti-Semitism'' (Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1992) *''The Unriddling of Christian Origins: A Secular Account'' (Prometheus Books, 1995)

Translations

Carl Brockelmann Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semitic studies, Semiticist, was the foremost Orientalism, orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in University of Wrocław, Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, ...

, ''History of the Islamic Peoples'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939) *N. N. Sukhanov, ''The Russian Revolution: A Personal Record'' (Oxford, 1955) *

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, '' Anna Karenina'' (Bantam, 1960) *Dan Theodore, ''The Origins of Bolshevism'' (Secker & Warburg, 1964) * Gisela Elsner, ''The Giant Dwarfs'' (Grove Press, 1965) *Paul Marc Henry, ''Africa Aeterna: The Pictorial Chronicle of a Continent'' (Sedo S.A., 1965) * Jean Lacouture, ''Vietnam: Between Two Truces'', trans. w. Kellen Konrad (Vintage Books/Random House, 1966) *

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

, ''A Peace Policy for Europe'' (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968)

References

External links

Lipsky Family Papers
P-858; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. *http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138438/ *http://www.nybooks.com/authors/1261 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carmichael, Joel 1915 births 2006 deaths American magazine editors French–English translators German–English translators Historians of Russia Jewish American historians Russian–English translators 20th-century American historians 20th-century American translators 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews