Joshua Prager (writer) explained

Joshua Prager
Relatives:Dennis Prager (uncle)
Notableworks:The Echoing Green
Education:Columbia University (BA)
Parents:Kenneth Prager (father)
Occupation:Author, journalist
Birth Place:Eagle Butte, South Dakota, U.S.
Birth Name:Joshua Harris Prager
Alma Mater:Ramaz School

Joshua Harris Prager (born 1971) is an American journalist and author.

Early life

Joshua Harris Prager was born in a Jewish family in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Prager is the son of Columbia University physician and medical ethics expert Kenneth Prager, and the nephew of commentator Dennis Prager.[1] He attended the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, the Ramaz High School in Manhattan,[2] and Columbia College, where he studied music theory, graduating in 1994.[3] [4]

Literary career

Prager often writes of historical secrets. He found the reclusive heir of Margaret Wise Brown, author of the classic children's book Goodnight Moon.[5] He confirmed the decades-long rumor that the New York Giants had stolen signs en route to the 1951 pennant.[6] He revealed that baseball pitcher Ralph Branca (pitcher in the aforementioned baseball game) was born to a Jewish mother.[7] He named the only anonymous winner in the history of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Iranian photographer Jahangir Razmi.[8] He revealed the suicides of the parents of Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg.[9] He identified the anonymous patron in the famous book Joe Gould's Secret.[10] He identified Shelley Lynn Thornton as the unknown child of the plaintiff Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey), whose conception in 1969 led to the landmark case Roe v. Wade.[11] [12] He revealed the unknown story of law professor Warren Seavey who admitted to Harvard Law School World War II veterans who didn’t apply to the school or had questionable credentials.[13] He revealed the unknown story and suicide of gymnast George Eyser who won six medals in the 1904 Olympics despite a wooden leg.[14]

Prager has written for publications including Vanity Fair,[15] [16] The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years.[17] His first book, The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, is about the Shot Heard 'Round the World, which occurred during a famous 1951 baseball playoff game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.. His second book, Half Life: Reflections from Jerusalem on a Broken Neck is about the road accident in Israel that left him paralyzed.[18] He describes his rehabilitation and recovery from the accident; how he tracked down his fellow passengers and the widow of the bus driver who was killed in the accident; and his meeting with the truck driver, who rambled on about his own suffering and expressed no remorse for his actions.[19]

In 2016, Prager published 100 Years: Wisdom From Famous Writers on Every Year of Your Life, a book of quotations designed by Milton Glaser.[20]

Prager's fourth book, , was published in 2021. It tells the story of Roe v. Wade and its plaintiff, Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey).[21] The book was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction,[22] as well as the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.[23]

Prager has lectured at venues including TED and Google,[24] and has received fellowships from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism[25] as well as the Fulbright Program.[26]

Personal life

In May 1990, Prager was paralyzed in a road accident in Israel when a truck driver rammed into the minibus in which he was riding.[27] Prager is married and has two daughters.

Selected works

Notes and References

  1. Ford, Luke. Article on Dennis Prager, LukeFord.net (March 13, 1998).
  2. Cohen, Irwin. "Baseball Is Dull Only To Those With Dull Minds", The Jewish Press, February 7, 2007. "The best book you can get about Thomson's homer, the 1951 season, the players, sign-stealing and more is Joshua Prager's The Echoing Green. Prager, who grew up in New Jersey, went to Moriah Day School, Ramaz High School and spent a year in yeshiva after high school before going on to college and a writing career with The Wall Street Journal."
  3. http://joshuaprager.com/wsj http://joshuaprager.com/wsj
  4. Web site: Columbia College Today . 2022-04-27 . www.college.columbia.edu.
  5. News: Runaway Money . Joshua Prager . Joshua Harris Prager . . A1 . September 8, 2000 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002950/http://joshuaprager.com/wsj/articles/goodnightmoon/ . September 28, 2007 .
  6. News: Inside Baseball . Joshua Prager . Joshua Harris Prager . . A1 . January 31, 2001 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130113031203/http://joshuaprager.com/wsj/articles/baseball/ . January 13, 2013 .
  7. News: For Branca, an Asterisk of a Different Kind . Joshua Prager . Joshua Harris Prager . . August 14, 2011 .
  8. News: A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History . Joshua Prager . Joshua Harris Prager . . A1 . December 2, 2006 .
  9. News: The Wallenberg Curse . Joshua Prager . Joshua Harris Prager . . A1 . February 28, 2009 .
  10. News: A Decades Long Literary Mystery is Solved . Joshua Prager . Joshua Prager (writer)#Literary career . . February 11, 2014 .
  11. Web site: Prager. Joshua. September 9, 2021. The Roe Baby. September 9, 2021. The Atlantic. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20220624165501/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/09/jane-roe-v-wade-baby-norma-mccorvey/620009/. June 24, 2022. live.
  12. Book: Prager . Joshua . The Family Roe: An American Story . 2021 . W. W. Norton & Company . 978-0393247718 . 672.
  13. Web site: Prager . Joshua . 2022-12-22 . A Harvard Law professor broke the rules to let in WWII vets. They made 'the best class there ever was.' . 2022-12-23 . BostonGlobe.com . The Boston Globe . en-US.
  14. Web site: Prager . Joshua . 2024-06-03 . A Forgotten Turner Classic . 2024-06-25 . The American Scholar . en-US.
  15. Prager. Joshua. The Accidental Activist. Vanity Fair. 18 January 2013.
  16. Prager . Joshua . Roe v. Wade's Secret Heroine Tells Her Story . Vanity Fair . 19 January 2017 .
  17. Web site: Joshua Prager: My personal half-life. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/w0gmh_ZRqJA . 2021-12-19 . live. TEDTalentSearch. 26 June 2012. 21 November 2018. YouTube.
  18. https://www.byliner.com/originals/half-life Half-life
  19. http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/crash-and-learn-coming-to-terms-with-a-near-fatal-accident.premium-1.513477 The sound of one finger typing
  20. Web site: Wisdom from great writers on every year of life. Prager. Joshua. www.ted.com. 19 April 2016 . 2016-05-04.
  21. News: Giridharadas . Anand . 2021-09-09 . The Epic Life of the Woman Behind Roe v. Wade . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-29 . 0362-4331.
  22. Web site: The Pulitzer Prizes - The Family Roe: An American Story . 2022-05-10 . The Pulitzer Prizes.
  23. Web site: 2022-03-14 . The Family Roe by Joshua Prager: 2021 Nonfiction Finalist . 2022-05-03 . National Book Critics Circle . en-US.
  24. Web site: Authors@Google: Josh Prager . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/eSs2So4QPAE . 2021-12-19 . live. 16 May 2008. 21 November 2018. YouTube.
  25. Web site: 2 AP staffers among 24 selected as Nieman Fellows. 21 November 2018.
  26. Web site: Untitled Document . 2013-02-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130202013945/http://www.cies.org/schlr_directories/usdir11/us_dir_geo.htm . 2013-02-02 .
  27. Prager, Joshua."A Movie Stokes My Memories",The Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2007.

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