William A. Henry III
William A. Henry III | |
---|---|
Born | William Alfred Henry (1950-01-24)January 24, 1950 South Orange, New Jersey, US |
Died | June 28, 1994(1994-06-28) (aged 44) Maidenhead, Berkshire, England |
Education | Yale University (BA) |
Occupation | Cultural critic |
William Alfred Henry III (Janury 24, 1950 – June 28, 1994) was an American cultural critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.[1][2]
Career
Henry lived in North Plainfield, New Jersey as a young man. He graduated from Yale in 1971 and began his career in journalism in Boston, writing for the Boston Globe. His coverage of school desegregation in Boston won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975. He also wrote on the arts for the Globe, winning a second Pulitzer for his television criticism in 1980.[3]
In the 1980s he worked as an arts critic for Time magazine, while pursuing his interests in cultural criticism and in American politics. Among his articles for Time was a story critical of the Hollywood trade newspapers in their cozy relationship in an industry town.[4] In 1984, he wrote Visions of America, an account of the American presidential campaign of that year. His 1990 video documentary of Bob Fosse, Steam Heat, won an Emmy.[citation needed] He also wrote a 1992 biography of Jackie Gleason, The Great One.[5][6]
His final book was In Defense of Elitism, a work of social and cultural criticism that argued that societies and cultures might be ranked on a spectrum ranging from 'egalitarianism' to 'elitism', and that the contemporary United States had moved too far away from the latter; a view he defended with reference to college education, multiculturalism, and other topics. He died of a heart attack on June 28, 1994, while the book was coming to press.[7]
Publications
- Henry, William A. (1985). Visions of America : how we saw the 1984 election. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 9780871130129. OCLC 564291516.
- Henry, William A. (1992). The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-41533-0. OCLC 651898009 – via Internet Archive.
- Henry, William A. (1994). In Defense of Elitism. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-47943-1. OCLC 30155600.
References
- ^ Fischer, Heinz D.; Fischer, Erika J. (2002). Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners 1917-2000 (Vol. 16). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 103. ISBN 978-3-598-30186-5.
- ^ Grimes, William (June 29, 1994). "William Henry 3rd, A Drama Reviewer At Time, Dies At 44". The New York Times. p. D19. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
- ^ Official website of the Pulitzer Prize
- ^ Trades Blow No Ill Winds, TIME, September 27, 1982
- ^ Henry, III, William A. (1992). The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-41533-0. OCLC 651898009 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Henry's biographical sketch at Random House, which published In Defense of Elitism
- ^ Short obituary of Henry at Time magazine; long obituary of Henry at TIME Magazine
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- George Scialabba's review of In Defense of Elitism
- Roger Kimball's article in The New Criterion, April 2001 references In Defense of Elitism
- v
- t
- e
- Alan M. Kriegsman (1976)
- William McPherson (1977)
- Walter Kerr (1978)
- Paul Gapp (1979)
- William A. Henry III (1980)
- Jonathan Yardley (1981)
- Martin Bernheimer (1982)
- Manuela Hoelterhoff (1983)
- Paul Goldberger (1984)
- Howard Rosenberg (1985)
- Donal Henahan (1986)
- Richard Eder (1987)
- Tom Shales (1988)
- Michael Skube (1989)
- Allan Temko (1990)
- David Shaw (1991)
- Michael Dirda (1993)
- Lloyd Schwartz (1994)
- Margo Jefferson (1995)
- Robert Campbell (1996)
- Tim Page (1997)
- Michiko Kakutani (1998)
- Blair Kamin (1999)
- Henry Allen (2000)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Pulitzer_Prizes_%28medal%29.png/60px-Pulitzer_Prizes_%28medal%29.png)
- Complete list
- (1970–1975)
- (1976–2000)
- (2001–2025)