Ronald Rosenbaum (born November 27, 1946) is an American
literary journalist,
literary critic, and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
.
Early life and education
Rosenbaum was born into a
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 ...
family in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and grew up in
Bay Shore, New York, on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. He graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1968 and won a
Carnegie Fellowship to attend Yale's graduate program in
English Literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
, though he dropped out after taking one course.
Career
Rosenbaum began his career as an editor of ''The Fire Island News'' and then wrote for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' for several years, leaving in 1975 after which he wrote for ''
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 ...
'', ''
Harper's'', ''
High Times'', ''
Vanity Fair'', ''
New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine 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. The magazin ...
'', and
''Slate''.
Rosenbaum spent more than ten years doing research on
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
including travels to
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, interviewing leading
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 ...
s,
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
s,
biographer
Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography.
Biographers
Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...
s,
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
s and
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
s. Some of those interviewed by Rosenbaum included
Daniel Goldhagen,
David Irving, Rudolph Binion,
Claude Lanzmann,
Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influenced m ...
,
Christopher Browning,
George Steiner, and
Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer (; 6 April 1926 – 18 October 2024) was a Czech-born Israeli historian and scholar of the The Holocaust, Holocaust. He was a professor of Holocaust studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew Univer ...
. The result was his 1998 book, ''
Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil''.
In ''Explaining Hitler'', Ron Rosenbaum also recounted in detail the previously little-reported story of the efforts of anti-Hitler journalists at the ''
Munich Post'' who, from 1920 to 1933, published repeated exposés on the criminal activities of the
National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e. the Nazis). Matthew Ricketson, coordinator of the Journalism program at
RMIT University's School of Applied Communication in
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...
, called this book "a brilliant piece of research".
In 1987, he began writing a weekly column for the ''
New York Observer'' called "The Edgy Enthusiast". He wrote a column for ''
Slate'' called "The Spectator"; as of 2024, its last post was in 2016. In 2009, one of Rosenbaum's Spectator columns was a lengthy sardonic critique of pop music icon
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...
entitled "The Worst Pop Singer Ever."
In ''
The Shakespeare Wars'', he wrote about recent controversies among literary historians, actors, and directors over how the works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
should be read, understood, and produced.
His book ''How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III'', addresses the paradoxes of deterrence, the danger of nuclear proliferation, and whether the bomb comprises an argument about warfare and genocide.
In December 2015, Rosenbaum published the article "Thinking the Unthinkable", in which he expresses his view that there exists a frightening possibility that
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
might not survive as a nation. In it, he writes that, "The Palestinians want a Hitlerite Judenrein state, however much violence it takes to accomplish it. Not separation, elimination." The Palestinians are, he asserts, engaged in incessant state and religious incitement to murder Jews. The "stabbing intifada" is not an insurgency, but a matter of "the ritual murder of Jews". Whereas Hitler tried to hide his crimes, the Palestinians celebrate killing Jews.
Bibliography
Books
*''The Secret Parts of Fortune'' (2011)
*
*''How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III''
*''Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil''
*''Travels with Dr. Death and Other Unusual Investigations'' (1991)
*
Articles
*
*
*
[Smithsonian often changes the title of a print article when it is published online. This article is titled "What turned Jaron Lanier against the web?" online.]
"Against Normalization: The Lesson of the 'Munich Post ''
Los Angeles Review of Books'', 5 February 2017
See also
*
List of Adolf Hitler books
*''
The Secret History of Hacking'', a 2001 documentary film featuring Rosenbaum.
References
External links
*
Complete Slate Spectator archiveRosenbaum's New York Observer columns* To aid researchers, author Ron Rosenbaum has allowed the scanning of ''Explaining Hitler'' a
Amazon.comReviews of ''The Hitler Of History'' by John Lukacs & ''Explaining Hitler: The Search For The Origins Of His Evil'' by Ron RosenbaumExcerpt: ''The Shakespeare Wars'' on CBC ''Words at Large''Audio interview with Rosenbaum on ''How the End Begins''*Phillip Nobile and Ron Rosenbaum
"The Curious Aftermath of JFK's Best and Brightest Affair,"New Times, July 7, 1976, pp. 22–33.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbaum, Ron
1946 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
21st-century American novelists
American columnists
American male journalists
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
Historians from New York (state)
Jewish American historians
Jewish American journalists
Jewish American non-fiction writers
Jewish American novelists
New Times magazine (1973-1979)
People from Bay Shore, New York
Smithsonian (magazine) people
Yale University alumni