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Ronald Lewis Steel (né Sklut; March 25, 1931 – May 7, 2023) was an American writer, historian, and professor. He is the author of the definitive biography of
Walter Lippmann Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974) was an American writer, reporter, and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years, he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of the Cold War, coining t ...
.


Early life

Ronald Lewis Sklut was born on March 25, 1931, in
Morris, Illinois Morris is a city in and the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois, Grundy County, Illinois, United States and part of the southwest Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 14,163 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A team of ...
, outside of Chicago. He was Jewish and his father immigrated to the United States from Russia. Steel earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and English from
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
(1953) and a Master of Arts degree in political economy from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
(1955). He served in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
, stationed in Paris and was a diplomat in the
United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...
, stationed in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
.


Career

Steel was an editor for the
Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
from 1959 to 1962. By 1960, he had begun writing under the pen name Ronald Steel. After leaving Scholastic, he lived in Europe, working in Paris and London as a writer and translator. Steel was the author of ''Walter Lippmann and the American Century'', the definitive biography of Lippmann. For this book, he was awarded the 1980
National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
,"National Book Awards – 1982"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
''Walter Lippmann'' won the 1982 award for paperback "Autobiography/Biography".
From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Award history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and several nonfiction subcategories including General Nonfiction. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.
the Bancroft Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History. The book was also nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
in Biography. He was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in 1973. Steel was a professor of International Relations, History, and Journalism at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, where he taught from 1986 to 2008. Before teaching at USC, he taught at
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 ...
,
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
,
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
,
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
,
George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, and
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. Steel wrote for ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' in the 1980s. He has also written for the ''
Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...
'', ''
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 ...
'' and ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
''.


Later life and death

In 2016, Steel moved to a nursing home in Washington, D.C., due to increasing cognitive impairment from
dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
. He died there on May 7, 2023, at the age of 92.


Works

* ''U.S. Foreign Trade Policy'', 1962 * ''Italy'', 1963 * ''The End of Alliance: America and the Future of Europe'', 1964 * ''North Africa'', 1967 *
Pax Americana
', 1967 * ''Imperialists and other Heroes: A chronicle of the American Empire'', 1971 * ''Walter Lippmann and the American century'', 1980 * ''Temptations of a Superpower'', 1995 * ''In Love with Night: the American romance with Robert Kennedy'', 2000


Notes


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Ronald 1931 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American expatriates in England American expatriates in France American male non-fiction writers American foreign policy writers American people of Russian-Jewish descent Bancroft Prize winners Deaths from dementia in Washington, D.C. Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Historians from California Historians from Illinois Jewish American historians National Book Award winners Northwestern University alumni People from Morris, Illinois The New Republic people United States Army soldiers United States Foreign Service personnel University of Southern California faculty