Victor Saul Navasky (July 5, 1932 – January 23, 2023) was an American journalist, editor, and academic. He was publisher emeritus of The Nation and George T. Delacorte Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University. He was editor of The Nation from 1978 until 1995 and its publisher and editorial director from 1995 to 2005. Navasky's book Naming Names (1980) is considered a definitive take on the Hollywood blacklist. For it he won a 1982 National Book Award for Nonfiction.[1][a]
Navasky was born on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the son of Esther (Goldberg) and Macy Navasky.[3][4] In 1946, when he was in the eighth grade, he helped to raise money for the Irgun Zvai Leumi — by passing a contribution basket at performances of Ben Hecht’s play, A Flag is Born.[5]
Before joining The Nation, Navasky was an editor at The New York Times Magazine.[7] He also wrote a monthly column about the publishing business ("In Cold Print") for the Times Book Review.[citation needed]
Navasky was named the editor of The Nation in 1978. In that forum, for many years, he was immortalized in Calvin Trillin's Uncivil Liberties column as "the wily and parsimonious Victor S. Navasky", or "The W. & P." for short.[citation needed]
Navasky was a supporter of alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss, having published vociferous defences of the man's innocence in The Nation both during his lifetime and after.[8]
In addition to his Nation responsibilities, Navasky was also director of the George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism at Columbia University, a member of the board of Independent Diplomat, and a regular commentator on the public radio program Marketplace.[citation needed]
In 2005, Navasky was named chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). This appointment engendered some controversy; as Navasky's name did not appear on the masthead, critics on the political right saw this as hiding that, despite the magazine's purported lack of political bias, a "major left-wing polemicist is calling the shots at CJR without any mention on the masthead."[9]
Navasky married Anne Strongin in 1966. They had three children.[3] Navasky died from pneumonia at a hospital in Manhattan on January 23, 2023, at the age of 90.[3]
Publications
Kennedy Justice (Atheneum, 1971)
Naming Names (Viking, 1980); a book concerning the Hollywood blacklist
The Experts Speak: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation (with Christopher Cerf), 1984, 1998 (ISBN0-679-77806-3)
A Matter of Opinion (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2005) (ISBN0-374-29997-8)
^
This was the award for paperback "General Nonfiction". From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were several nonfiction subcategories including General Nonfiction, with dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.
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