Peter Allen Golden is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger. He is the author of 9 full-length works of non-fiction and fiction, and five books of

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

. He is best known for his writings on the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and his interviews with

world leaders ''World Leaders'', also known as ''Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments'', is a public domain directory published weekly by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It lists different state officials for each country ...

Early life and education

Golden was born in Newark, New Jersey, to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents. He lived in Stuyvesant Village in

Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Union Township is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In the 18th century, the area that is now Union was then called Connecticut Farms. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 59,728, an ...

. He moved to

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange is a historic suburban Village (New Jersey), village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where he attended South Orange Junior High School before moving to Maplewood and graduating from

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

. He attended

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

for two years then transferred to

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a Public university, public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the St ...

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy.Smith, Bea. "Author has written his first love story" ''Worrall Community Newspapers,'' Dec. 2, 2010
Reprinted on Author's Website
)

Career

Nonfiction writing

In his 1992 book ''Quiet Diplomat,'' Golden described how, in 1975, U.S. President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

and U.S. Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

asked industrialist and political insider

Max Fisher Max Martin Fisher (July 15, 1908 – March 3, 2005) was an American businessman and philanthropist, and presidential advisor. Fisher founded Aurora Gasoline, an oil company that owned Speedway gas stations. After selling the company, he was chair ...

to help heal a diplomatic rift between the United States and Israel over relations with Egypt."Max Fisher, 96, Philanthropist And Adviser to Presidents, Dies"
''The Associated Press'' (in ''The New York Times'') March 4, 2005 He also reported on a 1965 visit Fisher made to U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

’s Gettysburg farm during which Eisenhower told him that he regretted pushing Israel to pull out of the Sinai. This fact was essentially unknown to historians until Golden wrote about it, and Fisher’s claim was backed up by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, who during his interview with Golden said: "Eisenhower. . . in the 1960s told me—and I am sure he told others—that he thought the action that was taken t Suezwas a mistake."Lerner, Dr. Josep
"Eisenhower Regretted He Pushed for Sinai Withdrawal"
''Independent Media Review Analysis'' June 8, 2007Lerner, Dr. Josep
"Pres. Eisenhower regretted he pushed Israel to pull from Sinai"
''Israel Behind The News'' March 4, 2005 In 2000, Golden co-wrote a memoir called ''I Rest My Case'', chronicling the life of J. Stanley Shaw, one of the preeminent bankruptcy attorneys in the United States.Richardson, Cle

''The Daily News (New York)'' March 4, 2005 Some of his writings have appeared in ''Detroit Free Press Magazine, New Jersey Monthly, Microsoft eDirections, Beyond Computing, The Forward,'' and ''Capital Magazine''."Albany Author Puts Computer User Inside"
''Times Union (Albany)'' Page C1 May 21, 1987 His blog, titled ''Boardside: Dispatches from the Education Wars,'' was a provocative online diary that chronicled his experiences serving as a Board of Education member in the

Guilderland Central School District Guilderland Central School District (GCSD) is a school district encompassing most of the Town of Guilderland and parts of Bethlehem, New Scotland, and Knox. The district serves approximately 4,828 K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing ...

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

. According to the ''

Times Union (Albany) The ''Times Union'', or ''Times-Union'', is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Tr ...

'', New York State School Boards Association spokeswoman Barbara Bradley said that school board members are within their rights to create blogs like Golden's, and, although she was not aware of any others in New York state in the year 2007, she expected many more in the future.Waldman, Scott
"An insider's view of a school board: Blog gives Guilderland's Peter Golden a platform to comment on education"
''Times Union (Albany),'' Page C1 July. 8, 2007 For ''Quiet Diplomat'' and ''O Powerful Western Star,'' Golden interviewed the following notable world leaders:Grondahl, Paul
"Author Explores World of Private Diplomacy"
''Times Union (Albany),'' Page H6 June. 21, 1992 * U.S. President

* U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

* U.S. President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

* U.S.S.R. President

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

* U.S. Secretary of State

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

* U.S. Secretary of State

George Shultz George Pratt Shultz ( ; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held f ...

* U.S. Secretary of State

Lawrence Eagleburger Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (August 1, 1930 – June 4, 2011) was an American statesman and career diplomat, who served briefly as the secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush from December 1992 to January 1993, one of the shortest t ...

* Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir (, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms (1983–1984, 1986–1992). Before the establishment of the State of Israel, ...

* Israeli President & Prime Minister

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

* Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

His history of the Cold War titled ''O Powerful Western Star'' was published in 2012. In 2016, Golden served as ghostwriter for ''Keep Swinging: A Memoir of Politics and Justice'' detailing the life of Senator Joseph L. Bruno.

Fiction writing

In the 1980s, Golden wrote five

novels for computers as part of a joint venture between

Imagic Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', '' Cosmic Ark'', and '' De ...

and Bantam called the Living Literature series. His first interactive computer novel, ''Another Bow,'' was a Sherlock Holmes mystery set aboard the S.S. Destiny and was a

Waldenbooks Walden Book Company, Inc., doing business as Waldenbooks, was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's e ...

best-seller for many weeks. In March 2011, ''Comeback Love'' was purchased for publication by Atria books, an imprint of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. It was published in early 2012."Publishers Marketplace: Dealmaker: Susan Golomb (Agent)"
''Publisher’s Marketplace'' March 10, 2011 His next novel, ''Wherever There is Light'', was published on Nov. 3, 2015 by Atria books, an imprint of

. On April 10, 2018, ''Nothing Is Forgotten'' was published. Golden is working on a historical thriller about the

John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign The 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then junior United States senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on January 2, 1960, as Senator Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the pres ...

Reactions and criticisms

Writing for ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'' magazine, Leonard Garment, former special counsel to President

, described Golden's ''Quiet Diplomat'' as a “meticulously researched and gracefully written book” that “gives us a concrete view of the emergence of American Jews into the mainstream of national politics since World War II.”Garment, Leonard
"Mediator"
''Commentary'' Feb. 1993. P 58 - 61.
Reprinted on Author's Website
) Writing for ''

The Jerusalem Report ''The Jerusalem Report'' is a fortnightly print and online news magazine that covers political, military, economic, religious and cultural issues in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world. Founded as an independent weekly publication in 1 ...

'', J.J. Goldberg called Golden's ''Quiet Diplomat'' “a disturbing, challenging book. It suggests, without answering, a wide range of questions about the relationship between the American Jewish community and its ‘leadership,’ and between the Diaspora community and the state of Israel. What is the Jewish community's role in U.S.-Israel relations? Can Israel trust representatives over whom it has no control? Whom do these “Jewish leaders” represent? In the end, Fisher and eter Goldenleave their readers free to draw their own conclusions.”Goldberg, J.J
“Fisher’s Tale”
''The Jerusalem Report'' Sep 24, 1992 pp. 46. Criticizing Golden’s ''Boardside'' blog, John Dornbush, then serving as

Board of Education Vice President, told the ''

'' that the website was inappropriate and that “It shows a lack of respect for others on the board.” On the other hand, Board member Barbara Fraterrigo told the same reporter that Golden's blog is a reflection of free speech in the modern age and is another means to give the public information. New York State School Boards Association spokeswoman Barbara Bradley also told the same reporter that "School board members have a right to speak as individuals" and "This is another vehicle for them."

Awards and honors

In 1989 Golden won the

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

’s Media Award for a critical profile he wrote of Judge Joseph Harris.

Personal life

Golden is married to Annis Golden, a communication professor at SUNY Albany. He has one son. He served as a board of education member of the

Bibliography

Nonfiction * ''Quiet Diplomat: A Biography of Max M. Fisher'' (1992) * ''I Rest My Case: My Long Journey from the Castle on the Hill to Home'' A Memoir by J Stanley Shaw with Peter Golden (2000) * ''Shoshanna'' (2009) * ''O Powerful Western Star'' (2012)Connally, Siobhan
"Five Questions for Jan. 18, 2011: Peter Golden"
''The Record (Troy)'', Jan 18, 2011 Novels *''Comeback Love'' (2012) *''Wherever There is Light'' (2015) *''Nothing Is Forgotten'' (2018) Interactive fiction *''Another Bow'' (1985)

References

External links

Peter Golden Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, Peter Allen 1953 births Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male bloggers American bloggers American male journalists American male non-fiction writers Interactive fiction writers Jewish American historians Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish bloggers University at Albany, SUNY alumni Writers from Newark, New Jersey Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni