Myron Kolatch

{{short description|20th-century American magazine editor}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Myron Kolatch | honorific_suffix = | image =  | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1929|9|26}}  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Magazine editor | years_active = 1953–2006 | era = | employer = ''The New Leader'' | organization = | known_for = | notable_works =  | term = | predecessor = James Oneal, Sol Levitas | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = | partner =  | children = | parents =  | relatives = | family = | awards = | website =  }} '''Myron Kolatch''' (born September 26, 1929) is an American magazine editor, who was managing editor and then executive editor of ''The New Leader'' from 1960 to its closure in 2006.<ref name=BurnsOut> {{cite news | first = Charles | last = McGrath | title = A Liberal Beacon Burns Out | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/arts/a-liberal-beacon-burns-out.html | date = 23 January 2006 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=ColumbiaCurrent> {{cite news | first = Reuven | last = Garrett | title = Current Q & A: Myron Kolatch | publisher = Columbia Current | url = http://www.columbia.edu/cu/current/articles/spring2007/current-qa.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121017124912/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/current/articles/spring2007/current-qa.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-10-17 | date = 2007 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

==Background==

Kolatch was born on September 26, 1929, in the United States; his parents were also born in the US.<ref name=BurnsOut/>

==Career==

During the Korean War, Kolatch served in the United States Army (1951–1953).{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

In 1953, Kolatch joined the staff of ''The New Leader'' magazine (1923–2006), long run by Sol Levitas (who, among other things, was a member of the American Committee for Cultural Freedom). In 1957, he was an editor.<ref> {{cite news | title = Reviews and Clippings (Henry A. Kissinger Papers) | journal = Yale University Library | url = http://findit.library.yale.edu/images_layout/fullview?parentoid=11786876 | date = 1957 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref> In 1960, he became managing editor; in 1961, he became executive editor.<ref name=BurnsOut/>

Assuming leadership of the magazine, Kolatch also inherited a scandal. ''The New Leader'' was co-publishing with Farrar Straus an anti-Communist book of essays. Book of the Month Club had selected''Strategy of Deception: A Study of Worldwide Communist Tactics'', edited by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. Then, it became known, the book had received secret funding from the United States Information Agency. Although Kirkpatrick was serving at the time as "consultant for various Government agencies," she claimed no knowledge of the secret funding.<ref> {{cite news | title = Club Selects USIA Book | journal = Washington Star | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01350R000200580006-5.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170123004004/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01350R000200580006-5.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 23, 2017 | date = 1 May 1964 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

Kolatch hired Diane Ravitch as a writer; other writers included Daniel Bell and Nathan Glazer.<ref> {{cite magazine | first = Kevin | last = Carey | title = The Dissenter | magazine = The New Republic | url = https://newrepublic.com/article/97765/diane-ravitch-education-reform | date = 23 November 2011 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref> He also hired Stanley Edgar Hyman as book reviewer with a regular column called "Writers and Writing."<ref> {{cite book | first = Ruth | last = Franklin | title = Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life | publisher = Liverwright | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ueOaCwAAQBAJ | date = 2016 | isbn = 9781631492129 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

In 1963, TIME magazine describe the magazine as "a Manhattan-based biweekly with a circulation of only 28,500, wields influence out of all proportion to its size."<ref> {{cite magazine | title = The Press: Influence Before Affluence | magazine = TIME | url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829986,00.html | date = 1 March 1963 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

In 1965, the magazine received some funding from the Tamiment Library after the sale of its Tamiment camp.<ref name=BurnsOut/>

Kolatch remained executive editor until the magazine's closure in 2006.<ref name=BurnsOut/>

==Personal life==

On politics, during a 2007 interview, Koltach said, "I have an uneasy feeling that Putin may be a twenty-first century variety of Stalin."<ref name=ColumbiaCurrent/>

On publishing, during the same interview, Kolatch said: <blockquote><small>Yes, there is and that is one of the reasons we did it as a PDF [on ''The New Leader'' website], so that you could print it and have it in your hand. Since I was a kid I was very interested in the whole growth and development of typography and moveable type, and I was in print shops, so I care a lot about graphic design. I care about the appearance of the magazine, and I don't want anybody messing with it.<ref name=ColumbiaCurrent/></small></blockquote>

==Works==

After ''The New Leader'''s reportage on Yugoslavian writer Mihajlo Mihajlov landed him in 1964, Kolatch wrote a foreword to his book, published in 1966.<ref name=BurnsOut/>

* ''Moscow Summer'' by Mihajlo Mihajlov with foreword by Myron Kolatch (1966)

==See also==

* ''The New Leader''

==References==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolatch, Myron}} Category:1929 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American writers Category:American magazine editors Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:20th-century American journalists