Izzy: A Biog Of I.f. Stone [Paperback]

Robert Cottrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1993

America's foremost left-wing journalist of the post-World War I era was I.F. "Izzy" Stone. At the time of his death in 1989, Stone had completed the passage he once predicted to his wife "from pariah to a character and then . . . a national institution." Now Robert Cottrell provides the first full-length biography of Stone, a fascinating story which parallels the story of the American Left. 12 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stone (1907-1989), an industrious and intellectually consistent American journalist in a profession not noted for either virtue, certainly deserves a full-length study, and this biography is nothing if not painstaking. Cottrell, an associate professor of history at the University of California, has obviously plowed through copious stacks of back issues of the Nation , the New Leader , P.M. and other leftist journals as well as Stone's own admired Newsletter. His book thoroughly records the evolution of the American Left from its New Deal peak to its postwar nadir and current state of sullen uncertainty. Through it all Stone kept a straight socialist viewpoint, disappointed by, and sometimes willfully blind to, the faults of the Soviet Union, but always seeking a fairer America. Cottrell certainly keeps this undeviating course firmly in view, and quotes Stone often enough to show how prescient he usually was. But the personal element is lacking; Stone's sometimes irritable, overweening, selfish and egotistical personality, as opposed to his political acumen, comes through only at second hand. As a documentary study of a notable American life, however, this will serve well until a more humanly focused biography comes along.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Stone (1907-88) enjoyed a remarkable career as a journalist, muckraker, and indomitable critic of the Establishment. An editorialist at the New York Post during the Depression, Stone went on to chronicle the rise of McCarthyism, the fall of segregation, and the emergence of the anti-Vietnam War movement. His newspaper, I.F. Stone Weekly , which ran from 1953 to 1971, exposed many forms of corruption at the highest levels of government. At the end of his life, Stone published The Trial of Socrates ( LJ 12/1/87), a bold, revisionist account of Athens's persecution of its most famous philosopher. Unfortunately, Cottrell's tired biography only goes through the motions. The man Cottrell describes as "generous and egotistical, ever-serious and impish, petulant and kindly" rarely comes into focus. However, this biography does make it clear that Stone was never an "agent of Moscow," as has been recently claimed by media critic Reed Irvine and a few others. Larger collections could consider.
- Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; Reprint edition (June 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813520088
• ISBN-13: 978-0813520087
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,871,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cottrell's Stone: Startling Insights, April 6, 2001

By 

Steven M. Gerson (Overland Park, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Izzy: A Biog Of I.f. Stone (Paperback)

Professor Robert Cottrell's biography of I.F. Stone offers startling insights into the complex world of one of the 20th century's most captivating journalists. This book, obviously the result of years of dedicated research, says as much about I.F. Stone as it does about the author Cottrell. Not only does the book depict Stone as a central character in the radical left, but also it places Cottrell as one of our most significant biographers of left-wing intellectuals (also see Cottrell's other biographies about Roger Nash Baldwin, the founder of the ACLU, and Nicholas Comfort). A biography should be assiduously researched and fair-minded, coveying its subject's contributions and conflicts. Cottrell accomplishes this, but the biography goes beyond a factual depiction, in that it also conveys both its author's and its subject's passion for left-leaning ideals. This is a brave work about a brave man.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Book, March 27, 2004

By 

robert c. cottrell (chico, ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Izzy: A Biography (Hardcover)

The review you have unstarred was delivered by me to offer a sampling of positive analyses about Izzy. I gave my own book 5 stars, not 0, as you have indicated.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, despite some style issues, December 2, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Izzy: A Biography (Hardcover)

Izzy offers a not always objective look at its subject, and one that could
have benefitted from tigher editing. As a stylist, Cottrell
seems to borrow from certain sections of Numbers, listing name after
name. He also makes the same points repeatedly, which can wear
on the reader at times.

Stone himself is made out to be a hero, and the author presents
some good reasons for supporting this -- Stone almost never
followed the pack blindly during his long career as a journalist,
and by following his instincts, rather than seeking approval of
sources, he was able to break big stories, on Vietnam in particular.

Cottrell, in his efforts to make Izzy a hero, sometimes glosses over some of the questions he raises about
Stone's character, such as his reluctance to treat left-leaning
nations with the same acid-test he applied to right-wing nations.

Cottrell does not ignore Izzy's inconsistencies, though. Readers will
will understand why Stone was at one time or another at odds
with not only the Establishment but his own friends on the
left.

Perhaps the real value of Izzy comes from the context it gives to
Izzy's times. One follows the rise of Liberalism in the '30s,
and gains perspective on why it faded as a force in American
politics and society, and how McCarthyism evolved.