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Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (June 14, 1934 – November 7, 2018) was an American journalist, editor of ''
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 ...
'', critic, and novelist, based in New York City. He served as senior Daily Book Reviewer from 1969 to 1995.


Biography

Lehmann-Haupt was born on June 14, 1934, in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Scotland, while his parents were visiting his mother's family. He was the eldest of three sons of Leticia Jane Hargrave Grierson, a Scottish teacher and editor from Edinburgh, and Hellmut Otto Emil Lehmann-Haupt, a German-born graphic arts historian and bibliographer. His family lived in New York City. Christopher had two younger brothers, Carl and Alexander (a member of
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
's
Merry Pranksters The Merry Pranksters were followers of American author Ken Kesey. Kesey and the Merry Pranksters lived communally at Kesey's homes in California and Oregon, and are noted for the sociological significance of a lengthy road trip they took in the s ...
). It was not until Lehmann-Haupt traveled to Berlin in 1947 to live with his father for a year that he learned about his father's Jewish ancestry. His parents had divorced, and his father had gone to Berlin in 1946 with the Allied Armies’
Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked ...
to help recover art works stolen by the Nazis and to revive German cultural life. In 1948 his father married again, to Rosemarie Mueller. They had two children, John and Roxana Lehmann-Haupt, half-siblings to Christopher and his brothers. Lehmann-Haupt was educated at the
Ethical Culture Fieldston School The Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also known more simply as Fieldston or Ethical Culture, is a private pre-K through twelfth grade coeducational school in New York City with two campuses, in Manhattan and in the Bronx. The school is ...
in New York,
The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-e ...
in Vermont, and
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
. He did postgraduate work at the
Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...
, from which he graduated in 1959 with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater history and dramatic criticism. Lehmann-Haupt died on November 7, 2018, due to complications from a stroke.


Editing

Lehmann-Haupt first worked as a teacher in Middletown, New York, but moved to Manhattan to seek work in publishing. He worked as an editor for various New York City publishing houses, among them
Holt, Rinehart and Winston Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools. The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of ...
and The Dial Press. In 1965, he moved 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 ...
'', where he became an editor and critic. He became immersed in the books and issues of the day. In May 1968, along with several dozen then-prominent writers and political activists (including
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...
,
Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer ( ; January 26, 1929 – January 17, 2025) was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Pulitzer Prize for Editori ...
,
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 ...
,
Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...
and
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
), Lehmann-Haupt signed the "Violence in Oakland" essay published in the ''
New York Review of Books New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
''. It condemned police harassment of and violence against
Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...
members in
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
. A police attack on April 6, 1968, had resulted in their killing 17-year-old
Bobby Hutton Robert James Hutton (April 21, 1950–April 6, 1968), also known as "Lil' Bobby," was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party.Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...
and another young African-American man. Each of the three was unarmed. In 1969, Lehmann-Haupt was appointed senior Daily Book Reviewer 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 ...
''. He held this position until 1995, when he became a regular daily book reviewer. From 1965 until 2000, he wrote more than 4,000 book reviews and articles, on fiction and on subjects from trout fishing to Persian archaeology. Lehmann-Haupt taught and lectured widely. He wrote articles on a variety of subjects, including
fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...
and bluegrass banjo-picking, two of his occasional avocations. He also published three books of his own, which were well-reviewed. The first, a memoir, ''Me and
Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (; born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, ; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career ...
: A Baseball Fan Goes in Search of His Gods'', was published in 1986 by Simon & Schuster. His first novel, ''A Crooked Man'', was published by Simon & Schuster in 1995. His second novel, ''The Mad Cook of Pymatuning'' was published by Simon & Schuster in 2005. At the time of his death, Lehmann-Haupt was working on a memoir of the year he spent living in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
with his father, from 1947 until 1948. While editor of ''The New York Times Book Review'', Lehmann-Haupt was known for being opposed to genre fiction. In 1980, when given a copy of
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...
's ''
Shatterday "Shatterday" is the first segment of the premiere episode of the first season of the television series ''The Twilight Zone''. The story follows a man who finds that a double of himself has moved into his apartment and is taking over his life. ...
'' for possible review, Lehmann-Haupt reportedly threw the book across the room and said, "Oh, it's that sci-fi crap." In April 2000, he assumed the job of chief obituary writer for ''The Times''. He wrote advance obituaries and occasional daily obituaries until his retirement on June 30, 2006. Obituaries bearing his byline continued to run in ''The New York Times'' as of January 2020. In retirement he continued to write advance obituaries as a freelancer for ''The New York Times''. During these years he also taught writing at the Marymount College Writing Center and
College of Mount Saint Vincent The University of Mount Saint Vincent (UMSV) is a Private university , private Catholic university in New York City, United States. It was founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity of New York. The university serves over 1,800 students with p ...
in Riverdale,
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, New York. He also taught at
Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism scho ...
. He was appointed the Editorial Director of Delphinium Books, a literary small press that publishes works of fiction.


Marriage and family

Lehmann-Haupt married writer Natalie Robins in 1969. They had two children together, Rachel and Noah, and lived in the Riverdale section of
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
.Novelist Christopher Lehmann-Haupt to Read at Mount Saint Vincent
,
College of Mount Saint Vincent The University of Mount Saint Vincent (UMSV) is a Private university , private Catholic university in New York City, United States. It was founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity of New York. The university serves over 1,800 students with p ...
press release dated September 2, 2005. Accessed May 4, 2008. "A former senior daily book reviewer for The New York Times, Lehmann-Haupt resides in Riverdale with his wife, writer Natalie Robins."


References


External links


Recent and archived news articles
by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of ''The New York Times'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher 1934 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American literary critics Obituary writers American male novelists Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni The New York Times journalists People from Riverdale, Bronx Swarthmore College alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Jewish novelists 20th-century American Jews Writers from Edinburgh Journalists from Edinburgh Writers from the Bronx Novelists from New York City The Putney School alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women