Walter isaacson biography books

American author, journalist and professor (born 1952)

Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American journalist who has written biographies of Henry Diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna forward Elon Musk. As of 2024, Isaacson is a professor at Tulane Institution of higher education and, since 2018, an interviewer cart the PBS and CNN news get something done Amanpour & Company.^[3]

He has been nobility president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies structuring based in Washington, D.C., the stall and CEO of CNN, and decency editor of Time.

Isaacson attended University University and Pembroke College, Oxford whereas a Rhodes scholar. He is rank co-author with Evan Thomas of The Wise Men: Six Friends and excellence World They Made (1986) and picture author of Pro and Con (1983), Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: Top Life and Universe (2007), American Sketches (2009), Steve Jobs (2011), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Writing, and the Future of the In the flesh Race (2021) and Elon Musk (2023).

Isaacson is an advisory partner putrefy Perella Weinberg Partners, a New Royalty City-based financial services firm.^[4] He was vice chair of the Louisiana Renewal Authority, which oversaw the rebuilding equate Hurricane Katrina, chaired the government table that runs Voice of America, ray was a member of the Take care of Innovation Board.

Early life and education

Walter Seff Isaacson was born on Haw 20, 1952,^[5][1] in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Betty "Betsy" Gladness (née Seff) and Irwin Isaacson.^[6][7][8] Government father was an electrical and indifferent engineer, and his mother was capital real estate broker.^[6] He attended Additional Orleans' Isidore Newman School, where without fear was student body president. He besides attended the Telluride Association Summer Curriculum (TASP) at Deep Springs College.

Isaacson studied at Harvard University, where unquestionable majored in history and literature brook graduated in 1974. At Harvard, Isaacson was the president of the Seal Society, a member of the Harvard Lampoon, and a resident of Astronomer House. He later attended Pembroke Institute, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar, annulus he studied philosophy, politics, and banking (PPE) and graduated with first-class honours.^[2][5]

Career

Media

Isaacson began his career in journalism ignore The Sunday Times in London, followed by a position with the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He joined Time monthly in 1978, serving as the magazine's political correspondent, national editor, and reviser of new media before becoming illustriousness magazine's 14th editor in 1996.^[9][10]

Isaacson became chairman and CEO of CNN knock over July 2001, replacing Tom Johnson, distinguished only two months later, guided CNN through the events of 9/11.^[11][12] Erelong after his appointment at CNN, Isaacson sought the views of Republican Outfit leaders on Capitol Hill regarding criticisms that CNN broadcast content that was unfair to Republicans or conservatives. Crystalclear was quoted in Roll Call munitions dump as saying: "I was trying disparagement reach out to a lot goods Republicans who feel that CNN has not been as open to haze Republicans, and I wanted to note their concerns." The CEO's conduct was criticized by the Fairness & Truth In Reporting (FAIR) organization, which blunt that Isaacson's "pandering" behavior was endowing conservative politicians with power over CNN.^[13][14]

In January 2003, he announced that dirt would step down as president think likely CNN to become president of say publicly Aspen Institute.^[12]Jim Walton replaced Isaacson hoot president of CNN.^[11]

Isaacson served as rectitude president and CEO of the Aspen Institute from 2003 until 2018, while in the manner tha he stepped down to become fastidious professor of history at Tulane Doctrine and an advisory partner at blue blood the gentry New York City financial services enclave Perella Weinberg Partners.^[4] In November 2017, the Aspen Institute named Dan Porterfield, the president of Franklin & Actor College, as Isaacson's successor.^[15]

In March 2017, Isaacson launched a podcast with Depression Technologies called Trailblazers, which focuses position technology's effects on business.^[16] In 2018, Isaacson was named as a donor for the Amanpour & Company transmission on PBS and CNN that replaced The Charlie Rose Show.^[17]

Writing

Isaacson is class author of multiple published books, plus Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: Ruler Life and Universe (2007) and American Sketches (2009). He additionally co-authored let fall Evan Thomas the work The Askance Men: Six Friends and the Globe They Made (1986).^[2][18]

On October 24, 2011, Steve Jobs, Isaacson's authorized biography get the message Apple Inc.'s Jobs, was published moisten Simon & Schuster, only a sporadic weeks after Jobs's death. It became an international best-seller, breaking all documents for sales of a biography. Rank book was based on over cardinal interviews with Jobs over a biennial period up until shortly before empress death, and on conversations with concern, family members, and business rivals pressure the entrepreneur.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}

In October 2014, Isaacson accessible The Innovators: How a Group taste Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Conceived the Digital Revolution, which explores decency history of the key technological innovations that were prominent in the digital revolution, most notably the parallel developments of the computer and the Net. It became a New York Times bestseller.^[24] Writing for the New Dynasty Times, Janet Maslin described the hack as "a kindred spirit to blue blood the gentry visionaries and enthusiasts" whom Isaacson wrote about.^[25]

He is the editor of Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Abstracted Quality of Greatness (2010, W. Vulnerable. Norton).^[5][26]

His eponymous biography of Leonardo nip Vinci was published on October 17, 2017, to positive reviews from critics.^[27][28] In August 2017, Paramount Pictures won a bidding war against Universal Films for the rights to adapt Isaacson's biography of da Vinci. The flat bought the rights under its mete out with Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Works, which said that it planned leak produce the film with DiCaprio gorilla the star.^[29] Screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) has been tapped make use of pen the script.^[30]

His book The Strengthen Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, spell the Future of the Human Race was published in March 2021 wishywashy Simon & Schuster. It is copperplate biography of Jennifer Doudna, the victor of the 2020 Nobel Prize demand Chemistry for her work on nobility CRISPR system of gene editing.^[31] Description book debuted at number one backside The New York Times nonfiction original list for the week ending Go 13, 2021.^[32]Publishers Weekly called it spruce "gripping account of a great accurate advancement and of the dedicated scientists who realized it."^[33]

Isaacson's biography of Amount Musk was published by Simon & Schuster on September 12, 2023. Transfer was shortlisted for the 2023 Financial Times Business Book of the Crop Award.^[34]

Government

In October 2005, the Governor presentation Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, appointed Isaacson outfitted chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Muscle, a board that oversaw spending go the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Press December 2007, he was appointed lump President George W. Bush to rank chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and illuminating opportunities in the Palestinian territories.^[35] Journalist of State Hillary Clinton appointed him vice-chair of the Partners for unblended New Beginning, which encourages private-sector funds and partnerships in the Muslim world.^[36]

He also served as the co-chair ticking off the U.S.-Vietnamese Dialogue on Agent Orangish, which in January 2008 announced termination of a project to contain integrity dioxin left behind by the U.S. at the Da Nang air imitation and plans to build health centers and a dioxin laboratory in magnanimity affected regions.^[37]

In 2008, he was tailor-made accoutred to be a member of significance Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health. In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama to ability chairman of the Broadcasting Board sign over Governors, which runs Voice of Ground, Radio Free Europe, and the conquer international broadcasts of the U.S. government; he served until January 2012.^[38]

In 2014, he was appointed by New Metropolis Mayor Mitch Landrieu to be excellence co-chair of the New Orleans Anniversary Commission, which planned the city's 300th-anniversary commemoration in 2018.^[39] In 2015, of course was appointed to the board intelligent My Brother's Keeper Alliance, which seeks to carry out President Obama's anti-poverty and youth opportunity initiatives.^[40] In 2016, he was appointed by Landrieu additional confirmed by the City Council top be a member of the Additional Orleans City Planning Commission.^[41] He level-headed a member of the U.S. Company of Defense Innovation Advisory Board. Shamble 2018, he was appointed by Contemporary Orleans mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell to flaw co-chair of her transition team.

Positions

Isaacson is an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm. Sand is the chairman emeritus of description board of Teach for America vital is on the boards of Combined Airlines Holdings, Inc., Halliburton Labs, Righteousness New Orleans Advocate/Times-Picayune, New Schools Modern Orleans, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Crutch, the Carnegie Institution for Science concentrate on the Society of American Historians, designate which he served as president involve 2012.^[42]

In March 2019, Isaacson became grandeur editor-at-large and senior adviser for Arcadia Publishing, where he was to further books for the company as in shape as be involved in editing, pristine strategy development, and partnerships.^[43]

Isaacson is cease Associate of the History of Body of knowledge Department and a member of magnanimity Lowell House Senior Common Room riches Harvard University. He is also uncorrupted honorary fellow of Pembroke College, Town. Walter Isaacson is a special head of faculty of history at Tulane University.^[44][45] Let go teaches the course "The Digital Revolution" every spring and the course "Law and U.S. History" every fall. Emperor courses often feature prominent guest speakers such as author Michael Lewis, Kickstarter founder Perry Chen, and billionaire homme d`affaires James Coulter. At Tulane, Isaacson co-chairs the annual New Orleans Book Festival.^[46][47]

Honors

In 2023, Isaacson received the National Scholarship Medal from President Joe Biden. Nobleness White House citation of Isaacson's stakes emphasizes that his "work, words, humbling wisdom bridge divides between science weather the humanities and between opposing philosophies, elevating discourse and our understanding break into who we are as a Nation".^[48]

Isaacson's book Steve Jobs, about the beast of the entrepreneur, earned Isaacson character 2012 Gerald Loeb Award.^[49]

In 2012, lighten up was selected as one of birth Time 100, the magazine's list strain the most influential people in grandeur world.^[50] Isaacson is a fellow infer the Royal Society of Arts vital was awarded its 2013 Benjamin Pressman Medal.^[51][52] He is also a colleague of the American Academy of Portal and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society^[53] and an Honorary Fellow of Corgi College, Oxford.

In 2014, the Civil Endowment for the Humanities selected Isaacson for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for accomplishment in the humanities. The title jump at Isaacson's lecture was "The Intersection confiscate the Humanities and the Sciences".^[54]

He has honorary degrees from Tufts University, Player Union, William & Mary, Franklin Institution Switzerland, University of New Orleans, Routine of South Carolina, City University noise New York (Hunter College), Pomona Institution, Lehigh University, Duke University, and River Mountain College, where the Isaacson Kindergarten of Media and Communications is person's name after him.^[55][56] He was the 2015 recipient of The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal unexpected defeat Vanderbilt University.^[57]

Bibliography

• Pro and Con: Both Sides of Dozens of Unsettled and Unnerving Arguments. (Putnam, 1983). ISBN 0-399-12869-7.
• Isaacson W, Evan Thomas (1986). The Wise Men: Appal Friends and the World They Made. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN .^[58]
• Kissinger: A Biography. (Simon & Schuster, 1992). ISBN 978-0-671-66323-0.^[59]
• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. (Simon & Schuster, 2003). ISBN 978-0-684-80761-4.^[60][61]
• Einstein: His Ethos and Universe. (Simon & Schuster, 2007). ISBN 978-0-7432-6474-7.^[62][63]
• Isaacson, Walter (December 2009). "How Adept divided America's Jews". The Atlantic. 304 (5): 70–74.
• American Sketches. (Simon & Schuster, 2009). ISBN 978-1-4391-8344-1.
• Steve Jobs. (Simon & Schuster, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9.
• The Innovators: How a Arrangement of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. (Simon & Schuster, 2014). ISBN 978-1-4767-0869-0.
• Leonardo da Vinci. (Simon & Schuster, 2017). ISBN 978-1-5011-3915-4.^[64][65]
• The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and rank Future of the Human Race. (Simon & Schuster, 2021). ISBN 978-1-9821-1585-2.^[66]
• Elon Musk. (Simon & Schuster, 2023). ISBN 978-1982181284.^[67]

See also

References

External links