{{Short description|American author and educator}}{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc. --> | name = Steven D. Stark | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|11|21|df=}} | birth_place = | death_date = | occupation = Author, cultural commentator, educator | nationality = American | education = Harvard College, Yale Law School | alma_mater = | genre = Popular culture, U.S. law | subject = | notableworks = ''Writing to Win: The Legal Writer'' | spouse = | partner = | children = | awards = | website = {{URL|starkwriting.com}}, {{URL|artofstark.com}} }} '''Steven D. Stark''' (born November 21, 1951) is an American author and educator, specializing in the areas of cultural commentary and U.S. law. He has worked as the cultural commentator for CNN,<ref name="HCP bio" /> National Public Radio (NPR), and Voice of America,<ref name="AmericanHeritage">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/users/steven-d-stark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408051839/https://www.americanheritage.com/users/steven-d-stark |title=Steven D. Stark|magazine=American Heritage|date=May–June 1997|archive-date=April 8, 2013|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> and written regularly for publications such as ''The New York Times'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', and ''The Atlantic''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/29541/steven-d-stark |title=Steven D. Stark|publisher=penguinrandomhouse.com|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> He has also contributed to ''The World'', a radio program co-produced by the BBC World Service and WGBH.<ref name="HCP bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/cr-100132/steven-d-stark |title=Steven D. Stark|publisher=harpercollins.com|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref>
Stark is the author of four books, including ''Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events That Made Us Who We Are Today'' (1997), ''Writing to Win: The Legal Writer'' (1999), and ''Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band That Shook Youth, Gender, and the World'' (2005).
==Early life and career== Stark grew up in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" /> and attended Sidwell Friends School.<ref name="Snark wedding/NYT" /> His father, William, was a psychiatrist, and his mother, Vivianne, was a professor of English at Montgomery College.<ref name="Snark wedding/NYT" /> He graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.<ref name="Starkwriting bio" /> By 1979, he was employed as a law clerk to Judge Elbert P. Tuttle of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Atlanta.<ref name="Snark wedding/NYT" />
In 1976, he served as an "issues director" on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign and came to appreciate the political significance of the rise in contemporary Southern culture. According to Ralph Whitehead, a professor of journalism at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, this experience encouraged Stark to develop "the American-studies view of politics: that what happens in politics is often an expression of deeper cultural and psychological forces that are at work in the country."<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe">{{cite news|last=Aucoin|first=Don|url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/05/29/beatle_brainiac/ |title=Beatle Brainiac|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=May 29, 2005|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> In addition to writing for ''The Boston Phoenix'', Stark contributed as an op-ed columnist to ''The Boston Globe''<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" /> and wrote a column on international sport for the ''Montreal Gazette''.<ref name="Starkwriting bio" />
On his website, Stark's former role as an NPR broadcaster is described as his attempt to "interpret American culture to the rest of the world".<ref name="Starkwriting bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.starkwriting.com/biography/ |title=Biography|publisher=Starkwriting|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> Stark's first book, ''Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events That Made Us Who We Are Today'', was published in 1997.<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" />
In 1999, Doubleday published Stark's book ''Writing to Win: The Legal Writer'', in which he espoused an approach in legal correspondence and in the courtroom of brevity and simplicity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fontham|first1=Michael R.|last2=Vitiello|first2=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKnfDgAAQBAJ&q=%22Steven+D+Stark%22&pg=PT137 |title=Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy in Trial and Appellate Courts|publisher=Wolters Kluwer Law & Business|location=New York, NY|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4548-2886-0|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> Among the endorsements for the book, Laurence Tribe described it as an "invaluable" work that would benefit students and most practicing lawyers alike.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0IHj3vIHFEC&q=%22Steven+D+Stark%22&pg=PA101 |title=Doubleday trade advertisement|journal=ABA Journal|date=January 2000|page=101|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref>
Stark's book ''Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band That Shook Youth, Gender, and the World'' was published in 2005 by HarperCollins. Three years before its publication, he moved to Chester, near Liverpool, in the north of England, to carry out research into the Beatles phenomenon.<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" />
''Kirkus Reviews'' said that ''Meet the Beatles'' offered little insight on the band that had not been unearthed by previous studies into their international impact.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steven-d-stark/meet-the-beatles/ |title=Meet the Beatles by Steven D. Stark|work=Kirkus Reviews|date=April 1, 2005|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> By contrast, James Rosen of ''The Washington Post'' appreciated the author's focus on how the Beatles' feminine qualities were a key factor in the group's appeal, and said the book was a "thoughtful, provocative and ultimately valuable contribution to the literature of the Beatles".<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosen|first=James|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080401627.html |title=Feminine Mystique|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 7, 2015|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> Don Aucoin wrote in ''The Boston Globe'' that in analysing the band's impact, "[Stark] captures also the sheer waves of joy the Beatles sent through the world, how they transformed youth culture, legitimized rock 'n' roll as an art form, and hastened the globalization of business and communications."<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" /> ''Publishers Weekly'' said: "A thorough biography of the band ... Stark is sharp and insightful."<ref>{{cite book|title=''Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band That Shook Youth, Gender, and the World'' by Steven D. Stark" > "Editorial Reviews|isbn=0060008938}}</ref>
Stark has lectured in law at Harvard Law School.<ref name="Starkwriting bio" /> He has also published fiction,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/author/stevenstark |title=About Steven D. Stark|publisher=Empty Mirror Books|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> poetry in the chapbook format, and exhibited as an artist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tupeloquarterly.com/fermat-3-by-steven-d-stark/ |author=Gunn, Ryan|title=Fermat 3 by Steven D. Stark|work=Tupelo Quarterly|date=July 14, 2014|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts and works as a consultant to the legal and other professions, teaching courses on speaking and writing.<ref name="StarkwritingWelcome">{{cite web|url=http://www.starkwriting.com |title=Welcome|publisher=Starkwriting|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> He married Sarah Wald, also a lawyer and academic, in October 1979,<ref name="Snark wedding/NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/22/archives/sarah-wald-bride-of-steven-d-stark.html |title=Sarah Wald Bride of Steven D. Stark|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 22, 1979|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref> and the couple have two sons.<ref name="Aucoin/BostonGlobe" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Steven D.}} Category:Living people Category:1951 births Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Sidwell Friends School alumni