J. Anthony Lukas
Encyclopedia
Jay Anthony Lukas, aka J. Anthony Lucas (April 25, 1933–June 5, 1997), was a Pulitzer Prize
-winning American
journalist
and author, probably best known for his 1985 book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families
, a classic study of race relations and school busing in Boston, Massachusetts
, as seen through the eyes of three families: one upper-middle-class white, one working-class white, and one African-American.
, followed by a younger brother in 1935, Christopher Lukas
. His mother was an actress, and his uncle Paul Lukas
was an Academy Award–winning actor. Lukas at first wanted to be an actor. After his mother's death by suicide and his father's illness after her death, he was at the age of eight enrolled in the coeducational Putney School boarding school in Vermont. After he graduated he attended Harvard University
where he worked at the Harvard Crimson
. In 1955 Lukas graduated magna cum laude
from Harvard University
. He continued his education at the Free University of Berlin
as an Adenauer Fellow. Lukas then served in the US Army in Japan where he wrote commentaries for VUNC (the Voice of the United Nations Command).
. He stayed at the Times for nine years, working as a roving reporter, and serving at the Washington, New York, and United Nations
bureaus, and overseas in Ceylon, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, and Zaire
, before the Congo
. After working at the New York Times Magazine for a short time in the 1970s, Lukas quit reporting to pursue a career in book and magazine writing, becoming known for writing intensely researched nonfiction works. He was a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, the Columbia Journalism Review
, Esquire
, Harper's Magazine
, The Nation
, The New Republic
, and the Saturday Review, a co-founder and editor of MORE, a "critical journal" on the news media, which "collapsed" in 1978, and a "contributing editor to the New Times
, an alternative magazine that folded also in 1978."
by hanging himself with a bathrobe sash. He had been diagnosed with depression
about ten years earlier.
In an interview that followed the publication of Common Ground
he gave some hints about his impending suicide, linking it with his career as a writer. "All writers ...," he said, "are, to one extent or another, damaged people. Writing is our way of repairing ourselves. In my own case, I was filling a hole in my life which opened at the age of eight, when my mother killed herself, throwing our family into utter disarray. My father quickly developed tuberculosis
—psychosomatically triggered, the doctors thought—forcing him to seek treatment in an Arizona
sanatorium
. We sold our house and my brother and I were shipped off to boarding school. Effectively, from the age of eight, I had no family, and certainly no community. That's one reason the book worked: I wasn't just writing a book about busing. I was filling a hole in myself".
, the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
, in 1968 for his New York Times article "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick." This article documented the life and violent death of a teenager from a wealthy Greenwich
, Connecticut
family who became involved in drugs and the hippie
movement. Also in 1967 Lukas was awarded a George Polk Award in Local Reporting
A second Pulitzer, the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction,was awarded to Lukas for Common Ground., for which he also received the 1985 National Book Award
, the National Book Critics Award, the 1985-1986 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Political Book of the Year Award.
Lukas is now the namesake of the Lukas Prize Project, co-administered by the Columbia University
's Graduate School of Journalism
and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, to support the works of American nonfiction writers. The project gives conferences and presents three annual awards: the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
, the Mark Lynton History Prize
, and the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author, probably best known for his 1985 book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families
Common Ground (book)
Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families is a book by J. Anthony Lukas examining race relations in Boston, Massachusetts through the prism of desegregation busing...
, a classic study of race relations and school busing in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, as seen through the eyes of three families: one upper-middle-class white, one working-class white, and one African-American.
His birth, early years, and education
J. Anthony Lukas was born to Elizabeth and Edwin Lukas in White Plains, New YorkWhite Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, followed by a younger brother in 1935, Christopher Lukas
Christopher Lukas
Christopher Lukas is a writer, television producer and director who, for the past forty-five years, has worked primarily for public television. From 1963 to 1971 he produced for WNET in New York City, making over 200 hours of programming for the educational station...
. His mother was an actress, and his uncle Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas was an Austrian-Hungarian-born actor.-Biography:Born Pál Lukács in Budapest, he arrived in Hollywood in 1927 after a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917...
was an Academy Award–winning actor. Lukas at first wanted to be an actor. After his mother's death by suicide and his father's illness after her death, he was at the age of eight enrolled in the coeducational Putney School boarding school in Vermont. After he graduated he attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
where he worked at the Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
. In 1955 Lukas graduated magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He continued his education at the Free University of Berlin
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
as an Adenauer Fellow. Lukas then served in the US Army in Japan where he wrote commentaries for VUNC (the Voice of the United Nations Command).
His career
Lukas began his professional journalism career at the Baltimore Sun, then moved to The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. He stayed at the Times for nine years, working as a roving reporter, and serving at the Washington, New York, and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
bureaus, and overseas in Ceylon, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, and Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, before the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
. After working at the New York Times Magazine for a short time in the 1970s, Lukas quit reporting to pursue a career in book and magazine writing, becoming known for writing intensely researched nonfiction works. He was a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, the Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, and the Saturday Review, a co-founder and editor of MORE, a "critical journal" on the news media, which "collapsed" in 1978, and a "contributing editor to the New Times
New Times Magazine
New Times was an American glossy bi-weekly national magazine published from 1973 to 1979 by George A. Hirsch. Hirsch had been publisher of New York magazine, but resigned after conflicts with founder/editor Clay Felker. New Times began as a bridge between the newsweeklies and the more reflective...
, an alternative magazine that folded also in 1978."
Selected publications
His major works include:- "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick", 1967, a Pulitzer-winning New York Times article on the life and death of a teenager in the hippieHippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
and drug counterculture - The Barnyard Epithet and Other Obscenities: Notes on the Chicago Conspiracy Trial, 1970, a story on the Chicago SevenChicago SevenThe Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
, aka the Chicago Eight - Don't Shoot, We Are Your Children!, 1971, included the Pulitzer-winning story, "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzgerald" and other stories of members of the Sixties' generationCounterculture of the 1960sThe counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
. A section written by Kai Erikson, a sociologist and an American StudiesAmerican studiesAmerican studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
professor at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and the editor of The Yale ReviewThe Yale ReviewThe Yale Review is the self-proclaimed oldest literary quarterly in the United States. It is published by Yale University.It was founded originally in 1819 as The Christian Spectator. At its origin it was published to support Evangelicalism, but over time began to publish more on history and...
challenged the view that there was a generation gap between the 60s' generation and the generations before it, and that argued instead that the 60s' generation expressed overtly what previous generations had expressed covertly. - Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years, 1976, a book on Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and the Watergate scandalWatergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
-- originating in two long, detailed issue-length articles on Watergate for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, with the third begun but canceled because of Nixon's resignation; Lukas then completed work on the third article and used it as the concluding third of a massive, careful work of journalistic history. - Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American FamiliesCommon Ground (book)Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families is a book by J. Anthony Lukas examining race relations in Boston, Massachusetts through the prism of desegregation busing...
, 1985, a book on busingDesegregation busingDesegregation busing in the United States is the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools in such a manner as to redress prior racial segregation of schools, or to overcome the effects of residential segregation on local school demographics.In 1954, the U.S...
and school desegregation in Boston and three families and their histories. - Big Trouble, 1997, a posthumously published history of a struggle between unions and mining company officials and supporters in Idaho during the early twentieth century following the assassination by bomb of former Idaho governor Frank SteunenbergFrank SteunenbergFrank Steunenberg was the fourth Governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He is perhaps best known for his 1905 assassination by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association...
.
His death
In 1997, while his last book, Big Trouble, was undergoing final revisions, Lukas committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by hanging himself with a bathrobe sash. He had been diagnosed with depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
about ten years earlier.
In an interview that followed the publication of Common Ground
Common Ground (book)
Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families is a book by J. Anthony Lukas examining race relations in Boston, Massachusetts through the prism of desegregation busing...
he gave some hints about his impending suicide, linking it with his career as a writer. "All writers ...," he said, "are, to one extent or another, damaged people. Writing is our way of repairing ourselves. In my own case, I was filling a hole in my life which opened at the age of eight, when my mother killed herself, throwing our family into utter disarray. My father quickly developed tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
—psychosomatically triggered, the doctors thought—forcing him to seek treatment in an Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
. We sold our house and my brother and I were shipped off to boarding school. Effectively, from the age of eight, I had no family, and certainly no community. That's one reason the book worked: I wasn't just writing a book about busing. I was filling a hole in myself".
Prizes
Lukas won his first Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in print journalism...
, in 1968 for his New York Times article "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick." This article documented the life and violent death of a teenager from a wealthy Greenwich
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
family who became involved in drugs and the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movement. Also in 1967 Lukas was awarded a George Polk Award in Local Reporting
A second Pulitzer, the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction,was awarded to Lukas for Common Ground., for which he also received the 1985 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, the National Book Critics Award, the 1985-1986 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Political Book of the Year Award.
Lukas is now the namesake of the Lukas Prize Project, co-administered by the Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, to support the works of American nonfiction writers. The project gives conferences and presents three annual awards: the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize is an annual award in the amount of $10,000 given to a book that exemplifies, "literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern.” The prize is given by the Nieman Foundation and by the Columbia University School of Journalism. The prize is named...
, the Mark Lynton History Prize
Mark Lynton History Prize
The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual award in the amount of $10,000 given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression"...
, and the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award.
External links
- Applegate, Edd, 1996 Literary Journal: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut
- Freedman,Samuel G, 1997. "A Heart,A Brain, and A Good Pair Of Shoes", 1997 SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, June 12, 1997] - Mitgang, Herbert, 1985 New York Times, September 15, 1985, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 7; Page 1, Column 1; Book Review Desk
- Osen, Diane,"Interview of J. Anthony Lukas"
- Rosenbaum, Rob, 2006, "When Intellectuals Had a Real Magazine: Viva Lingua Franca!", New York News Observer, 4/24/2006
- http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/00-3NRfall/State-of-Narrative.htmlThe State of Narrative Nonfiction Writing", Nieman Reports, The Nieman Foundation for JournalismNieman Foundation for JournalismThe Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in 1938 as the result of a $1 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of The Milwaukee Journal...
at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Vol. 54 No. 3 Fall 2000] - Lukas, Christopher, 2008, "Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival", Doubleday. The autobiography of Lukas' brother.
- Blount, Roy Jr., "The Inheritance of Loss", The New York Times Book Review, September 28, 2008.