J. Anthony Lukas

American journalist and author

Jay Anthony Lukas

Born| April 25, 1933
New York City, U.S.
Died| June 5, 1997(1997-06-05) (aged 64)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation| Journalist, author
Alma mater| Harvard University (BA)
Free University of Berlin
Notable works| Common Ground (1985)
Spouse| Linda Healey
Relatives| Christopher Lukas (brother)
Paul Lukas (uncle)

Jay Anthony Lukas (April 25, 1933 – June 5, 1997) was an American journalist and author, best known for his 1985 book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families.[1] Common Ground is a study of race relations, class conflict, and school busing in Boston, Massachusetts, as seen through the eyes of three families: one upper-middle-class white, one working-class white, and one working-class African-American.[2] He has won two Pulitzer Prizes.

## Early life and education

[edit]

J. Anthony Lukas was born to Elizabeth and Edwin Lukas in White Plains, New York. His mother was an actress and his uncle Paul Lukas was an Academy Award–winning actor. Lukas at first wanted to be an actor. After his mother committed suicide and his father's illness after her death, he was at the age of eight enrolled in the coeducational Putney School in Vermont. His younger brother, Christopher Lukas, born in 1935, is a television producer and writer.

Lukas attended Harvard University, where he worked at the Harvard Crimson and graduated magna cum laude in 1955. He continued his education at the Free University of Berlin as an Adenauer Fellow. Thereafter, he served in the United States Army in Japan, where he wrote commentaries for the Voice of the United Nations Command (VUNC).[3]

## Career

[edit]

Lukas began his professional journalism career at The Baltimore Sun and then moved to The New York Times. He stayed at the Times for nine years, working as a roving reporter, and serving at the Washington, D.C., New York City, and United Nations bureaus, and overseas in Ceylon, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa and Zaire. After working at The New York Times Magazine as a staff writer and freelancer for a short time in the 1970s (where he notably covered the Watergate scandal in two issue-length articles that served as the basis for a 1976 book, Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years, and even correctly guessed that Deep Throat, the secret informant who provided information on the scandal to Bob Woodward, was Mark Felt), Lukas quit reporting to pursue a career in book and magazine writing, becoming known for writing intensely researched nonfiction works. He was a contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, the Columbia Journalism Review, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, and the Saturday Review. Additionally, he was the co-founder and editor of MORE, a "critical journal" on the news media which folded in 1978, and a "contributing editor to the New Times, an alternative magazine that also folded in 1978."[4]

## Death

[edit]

Lukas was diagnosed with depression in the late 1980s.[5] In an interview that followed the publication of Common Ground in 1985, he had given some hints about his frame of mind, linking it with his career as a writer:

> All writers are, to one extent or another, damaged people. Writing is our way of repairing ourselves. In my own case, I was filling a hole in my life which opened at the age of eight, when my mother killed herself, throwing our family into utter disarray. My father quickly developed tuberculosis – psychosomatically triggered, the doctors thought – forcing him to seek treatment in an Arizona sanatorium. We sold our house and my brother and I were shipped off to boarding school. Effectively, from the age of eight, I had no family, and certainly no community. That's one reason the book worked: I wasn't just writing a book about busing. I was filling a hole in myself.[6]

In 1997, Lukas' book, Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America, was undergoing final revisions. Lukas committed suicide on June 5. The suicide occurred in his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[1][7] He was survived by his wife, book editor Linda Healey.[8]

## Awards

[edit]

Lukas won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick" in the now-defunct award category of Local Investigative Specialized Reporting.[9] The New York Times article documented the life of a teenager from a wealthy, Greenwich, Connecticut-based family who became involved in drugs and the hippie movement before being bludgeoned to death in the basement of an East Village tenement. Lukas was previously awarded a George Polk Award in Local Reporting in 1967 for the story.[10]

Almost twenty years later, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for Common Ground,[11] as well as the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction,[12] the National Book Critics Award,[13] the 1985-1986 Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Book Award[14] and the Political Book of the Year Award.

The Lukas Prize Project, co-administered by the Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, supports the work of American nonfiction writers. It hosts conferences and presents three annual awards: the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award.[15]

## Selected publications

[edit]

* "The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick", 1967, The New York Times article on the life and death of a teenager in the 1960s counterculture — winner of the Pulitzer Prize[9]
* "The Barnyard Epithet and Other Obscenities: Notes on the Chicago Conspiracy Trial", 1970, a story on the Chicago Seven, aka the Chicago Eight
* Don't Shoot, We Are Your Children!, 1971, a collection of stories about members of the 1960s counterculture (including the Linda Fitzpatrick article). A section by Kai Erikson —sociologist and professor of American studies at Yale and editor of The Yale Review— challenged the view that there was a "generation gap" between the sixties generation and their parents generations, arguing that the sixties generation expressed overtly what previous generations had expressed covertly.
* "After the Pentagon Papers–A Month in the New Life of Daniel Ellsberg", 1971, The New York Times story on Ellsberg's meetings with various anti-Vietnam War activists, motivations behind leaking the Papers, and friendships with Harry Rowen and Tony Russo.[16]
* Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years, 1976, a book on Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, originating in two long, detailed issue-length articles on Watergate for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and a third underway but canceled when Nixon resigned. Lukas completed work on the third article and used it as the final section of the book. In the book, Lukas correctly guesses that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.
* Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, 1985, a book on busing and school desegregation in Boston and three families and their histories.
* Big Trouble, 1997, a posthumously published history of a struggle between unions and mining company officials and supporters in Idaho, early in the twentieth century, after the bombing assassination of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Haberman, Clyde (June 7, 1997). "J. Anthony Lukas, 64, Pulitzer-Winning Author". New York Times. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
2. ^ Lukas, J. Anthony (1985). Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-74616-3.
3. ^ Osen, Diane,"Interview of J. Anthony Lukas" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
4. ^ Literary Journal: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1996, by Edd Applegate.
5. ^ Carvajal, Doreen (1997-10-12). "Survived By His Book". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-04-24.
6. ^ Osen, Diane, "Interview of J. Anthony Lukas" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ Nailen, Dan (January 1, 1998). "Uncommon ground". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). p. 1B.
8. ^ Haberman, Clyde (7 June 1997). "J. Anthony Lukas, 64, an Author, is Dead". The New York Times.
9. ^ a b "1968 Winners". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
10. ^ The George Polk Awards for Journalists Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine.
11. ^ "General Nonfiction". Past winners & finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
12. ^ "National Book Awards – 1985". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
13. ^ "The National Book Critics Circle Awards" Archived July 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. American Booksellers Association. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
14. ^ "RFK Book Award Winners | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights". Archived from the original on October 5, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2014.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
15. ^ "The Lukas Prize Project". Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2006-04-24.
16. ^ Lukas, J. Anthony (December 12, 1971). "After the Pentagon Papers—A Month in the New Life of Daniel Ellsberg". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Applegate, Edd, 1996 Literary Journal: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut
* "A Heart, A Brain, and A Good Pair Of Shoes" (Archived), Freedman, Samuel G. Salon, June 12, 1997
* Review by Mitgang, Herbert, 1985 New York Times, September 15, 1985, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 7; Page 1, Column 1; Book Review Desk
* Osen, Diane, "Interview of J. Anthony Lukas"
* Rosenbaum, Rob, 2006, "When Intellectuals Had a Real Magazine: Viva Lingua Franca!", New York News Observer, April 24, 2006
* Lerner, Kevin, “(MORE) guided journalists during the 1970s media crisis of confidence”, Columbia Journalism Review, May 10, 2018
* The State of Narrative Nonfiction Writing", Nieman Reports, The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Vol. 54 No. 3 Fall 2000
* Lukas, Christopher, 2008, "Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival", Doubleday. The autobiography of Lukas' brother.
* Blount, Roy Jr., "The Inheritance of Loss", The New York Times Book Review, September 28, 2008.

* v
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Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction

1962–1975|

* The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore White (1962)
* The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (1963)
* Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter (1964)
* O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones (1965)
* Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale (1966)
* The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis (1967)
* Rousseau and Revolution, vol. 10 of The Story of Civilization, by Will and Ariel Durant (1968)
* So Human an Animal by René Dubos / The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer (1969)
* Gandhi's Truth by Erik Erikson (1970)
* The Rising Sun by John Toland (1971)
* Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 by Barbara W. Tuchman (1972)
* Fire in the Lake by Frances FitzGerald / Children of Crisis vols. 2 and 3 by Robert Coles (1973)
* The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (1974)
* Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1975)

1976–2000|

* Why Survive? by Robert N. Butler (1976)
* Beautiful Swimmers by William W. Warner (1977)
* The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan (1978)
* On Human Nature by E. O. Wilson (1979)
* Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (1980)
* Fin-de-siècle Vienna by Carl Emil Schorske (1981)
* The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1982)
* Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan (1983)
* The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr (1984)
* The Good War by Studs Terkel (1985)
* Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas / Move Your Shadow by Joseph Lelyveld (1986)
* Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler (1987)
* The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (1988)
* A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (1989)
* And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson (1990)
* The Ants by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson (1991)
* The Prize by Daniel Yergin (1992)
* Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills (1993)
* Lenin's Tomb by David Remnick (1994)
* The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner (1995)
* The Haunted Land by Tina Rosenberg (1996)
* Ashes to Ashes by Richard Kluger (1997)
* Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (1998)
* Annals of the Former World by John McPhee (1999)
* Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower (2000)

2001–2025|

* Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix (2001)
* Carry Me Home by Diane McWhorter (2002)
* "A Problem from Hell" by Samantha Power (2003)
* Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum (2004)
* Ghost Wars by Steve Coll (2005)
* Imperial Reckoning by Caroline Elkins (2006)
* The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (2007)
* The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedländer (2008)
* Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon (2009)
* The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman (2010)
* The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2011)
* The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (2012)
* Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King (2013)
* Toms River by Dan Fagin (2014)
* The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (2015)
* Black Flags by Joby Warrick (2016)
* Evicted by Matthew Desmond (2017)
* Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr. (2018)
* Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold (2019)
* The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin / The Undying by Anne Boyer (2020)
* Wilmington's Lie by David Zucchino (2021)
* Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott (2022)
* His Name Is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (2023)
* A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall (2024)

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* e

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Previously the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time from 1953–1963 and the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting from 1964–1984

1953–1975|

* Edward J. Mowery (1953)
* Alvin McCoy (1954)
* Roland Kenneth Towery (1955)
* Arthur Daley (1956)
* Wallace Turner (1957)
* George Beveridge (1958)
* John Harold Brislin (1959)
* Miriam Ottenberg (1960)
* Edgar May (1961)
* George Bliss (1962)
* Oscar Griffin Jr. (1963)
* James V. Magee, Albert V. Gaudiosi & Frederick Meyer (1964)
* Gene Goltz (1965)
* John Anthony Frasca (1966)
* Gene Miller (1967)
* J. Anthony Lukas (1968)
* Al Delugach & Denny Walsh (1969)
* Harold E. Martin (1970)
* William Jones (1971)
* Timothy Leland, Gerard M. O'Neill, Stephen Kurkjian & Ann Desantis (1972)
* The Sun Newspapers of Omaha (1973)
* William Sherman (1974)
* The Indianapolis Star (1975)

1976–2000|

* Chicago Tribune (1976)
* Acel Moore & Wendell Rawls Jr. (1977)
* Anthony R. Dolan (1978)
* Gilbert M. Gaul & Elliot G. Jaspin (1979)
* Stephen Kurkjian, Alexander B. Hawes Jr., Nils Bruzelius, Joan Vennochi & Robert M. Porterfield (1980)
* Clark Hallas & Robert B. Lowe (1981)
* Paul Henderson (1982)
* Loretta Tofani (1983)
* Kenneth Cooper, Joan Fitz Gerald, Jonathan Kaufman, Norman Lockman, Gary McMillan, Kirk Scharfenberg & David Wessel (1984)
* Lucy Morgan, Jack Reed & William K. Marimow (1985)
* Jeffrey A. Marx & Michael M. York (1986)
* Daniel R. Biddle, H.G. Bissinger, Fredric N. Tulsky & John Woestendiek (1987)
* Dean Baquet, William C. Gaines & Ann Marie Lipinski (19)
* Bill Dedman (1989)
* Lou Kilzer (1990)
* Joseph T. Hallinan & Susan M. Headden (1991)
* Lorraine Adams & Dan Malone (1992)
* Jeff Brazil & Steve Berry (1993)
* Providence Journal-Bulletin (1994)
* Stephanie Saul & Brian Donovan (1995)
* The Orange County Register (1996)
* Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson & Alex Tizon (1997)
* Gary Cohn & Will Englund (1998)
* Miami Herald (1999)
* Sang-Hun Choe, Charles J. Hanley & Martha Mendoza (2000)

2001–2025|

* David Willman (2001)
* Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham & Sarah Cohen (2002)
* Clifford J. Levy (2003)
* Michael D. Sallah, Joe Mahr & Mitch Weiss (2004)
* Nigel Jaquiss (2005)
* Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi & R. Jeffrey Smith (2006)
* Brett Blackledge (2007)
* Walt Bogdanich, Jake Hooker & Chicago Tribune (2008)
* David Barstow (2009)
* Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman & Sheri Fink (2010)
* Paige St. John (2011)
* Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan, Chris Hawley, Michael J. Berens & Ken Armstrong (2012)
* David Barstow & Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab (2013)
* Chris Hamby (2014)
* Eric Lipton & The Wall Street Journal (2015)
* Leonora LaPeter Anton, Anthony Cormier, Michael Braga & Esther Htusan (2016)
* Eric Eyre (2017)
* The Washington Post (2018)
* Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan & Paul Pringle (2019)
* Brian Rosenthal (2020)
* Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen & Brendan McCarthy (2021)
* Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington & Eli Murray (2022)
* Staff of The Wall Street Journal (2023)

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