Jim Sleeper
Encyclopedia
Jim Sleeper a writer and teacher on American civic culture and politics and a lecturer in political science at Yale University
, is the author of The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York (W.W. Norton, 1990) and Liberal Racism (Viking, 1997, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). His civic-republican orientation has made him a critic of both left-liberal racial politics and of corporatist and neo-conservative national-security state politics.
From 1988 to 1995 Sleeper was an editor at New York Newsday and the New York Daily News. As a political columnist for the Daily News during and after the 1993 mayoral campaign in which Rudolph Giuliani defeated the city’s first African-American mayor, David Dinkins, Sleeper anticipated and explained Giuliani’s rise in columns on the city’s changing political culture. Since 2006 he has been a contributing blogger at www.tpmcafe.com (Talking Points Memo), posting columns on the American news media, the 2008 American presidential election, and Israel's war in Gaza. His "Obama Chronicles," posted originally in TPM and Dissent, trace the arc of his own and others' rising support for Obama during the 2008 campaign and are collected at www.jimsleeper.com.
His reportage and commentary have also appeared in Harper’s
. The New Republic
, The Nation
, The New Yorker
, The Washington Monthly
, Dissent
, Commonweal
, Democracy Journal, and many other publications. He has appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the Charlie Rose show, and National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation
” and has been an occasional commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered
,” and on WNYC (New York's NPR station), where he was recently interviewed on the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Closest of Strangers.: http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2010/apr/15/big-sleep/. In May, 2010, Sleeper was a commentator on the legacy of New York City Mayor John Lindsay in the PBS documentary "Fun City Revisited": http://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/
Among his more widely noted columns,"Why Rudy Giuliani Really Shouldn't Be President": http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/specialguests/2007/mar/08/why_rudy_giuliani_really_shouldn_t_be_president and a column on how New York Times columnist David Brooks mishandled the mortgage crisis: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/22/intellectual_usury_feels_good/index.php. Sleeper posted a series of columns on Israel's Gaza War of 2008-2009 http://www.jimsleeper.com/?p=7 and was interviewed about them on NPR's WNYC in January, 2009 http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2009/01/15/segments/121047.
Sleeper is a member of the editorial board of the quarterly magazine Dissent, for which he edited In Search of New York (1987), a special edition re-published by Transaction Books, containing original essays by the quarterly’s founding editor, Irving Howe
, as well as by Ada Louise Huxtable
, Michael Harrington
, Alfred Kazin
, Jim Chapin, Paul Berman
, and many other notable contributors.
A Longmeadow, Massachusetts
native and Yale College graduate (1969), Sleeper holds a doctorate in education from Harvard (1977). He has taught urban studies and writing at Harvard and, upon moving to New York in 1977, at Queens Colleges and at New York University. In 1982-83 he was a Charles Revson Fellow at Columbia University, studying urban housing development. In 1998 he was a fellow at the Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.
At Yale Sleeper has taught seminars on new conceptions of American national identity and on journalism, liberalism, and democracy. He is married to Seyla Benhabib
, Yale's Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy.
Yale University
Yale 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...
, is the author of The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York (W.W. Norton, 1990) and Liberal Racism (Viking, 1997, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). His civic-republican orientation has made him a critic of both left-liberal racial politics and of corporatist and neo-conservative national-security state politics.
From 1988 to 1995 Sleeper was an editor at New York Newsday and the New York Daily News. As a political columnist for the Daily News during and after the 1993 mayoral campaign in which Rudolph Giuliani defeated the city’s first African-American mayor, David Dinkins, Sleeper anticipated and explained Giuliani’s rise in columns on the city’s changing political culture. Since 2006 he has been a contributing blogger at www.tpmcafe.com (Talking Points Memo), posting columns on the American news media, the 2008 American presidential election, and Israel's war in Gaza. His "Obama Chronicles," posted originally in TPM and Dissent, trace the arc of his own and others' rising support for Obama during the 2008 campaign and are collected at www.jimsleeper.com.
His reportage and commentary have also appeared in Harper’s
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 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...
, 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 Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
, Dissent
Dissent
Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or an entity...
, Commonweal
Commonweal
Commonweal is a American journal of opinion edited and managed by lay Catholics. It is headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City.-History:...
, Democracy Journal, and many other publications. He has appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the Charlie Rose show, and National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
” and has been an occasional commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
,” and on WNYC (New York's NPR station), where he was recently interviewed on the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Closest of Strangers.: http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2010/apr/15/big-sleep/. In May, 2010, Sleeper was a commentator on the legacy of New York City Mayor John Lindsay in the PBS documentary "Fun City Revisited": http://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/
Among his more widely noted columns,"Why Rudy Giuliani Really Shouldn't Be President": http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/specialguests/2007/mar/08/why_rudy_giuliani_really_shouldn_t_be_president and a column on how New York Times columnist David Brooks mishandled the mortgage crisis: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/22/intellectual_usury_feels_good/index.php. Sleeper posted a series of columns on Israel's Gaza War of 2008-2009 http://www.jimsleeper.com/?p=7 and was interviewed about them on NPR's WNYC in January, 2009 http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2009/01/15/segments/121047.
Sleeper is a member of the editorial board of the quarterly magazine Dissent, for which he edited In Search of New York (1987), a special edition re-published by Transaction Books, containing original essays by the quarterly’s founding editor, Irving Howe
Irving Howe
Irving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Life and career:...
, as well as by Ada Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable is an architecture critic and writer on architecture. In 1970 she was awarded the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for "distinguished criticism during 1969."...
, Michael Harrington
Michael Harrington
Edward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
, Alfred Kazin
Alfred Kazin
Alfred Kazin was an American writer and literary critic, many of whose writings depicted the immigrant experience in early twentieth century America....
, Jim Chapin, Paul Berman
Paul Berman
Paul Berman is an American writer. His articles have been published in numerous periodicals, such as: The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review and Slate...
, and many other notable contributors.
A Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,633 people, 5,734 households, and 4,432 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 5,879 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.42% White, 0.69% African American, 0.05% Native American, 2.90%...
native and Yale College graduate (1969), Sleeper holds a doctorate in education from Harvard (1977). He has taught urban studies and writing at Harvard and, upon moving to New York in 1977, at Queens Colleges and at New York University. In 1982-83 he was a Charles Revson Fellow at Columbia University, studying urban housing development. In 1998 he was a fellow at the Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.
At Yale Sleeper has taught seminars on new conceptions of American national identity and on journalism, liberalism, and democracy. He is married to Seyla Benhabib
Seyla Benhabib
Seyla Benhabib is Eugene Mayer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University, and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher. She is the author of several books, most notably about the philosophers Hannah Arendt and...
, Yale's Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy.