Nat Hentoff
Encyclopedia : N : NA : NAT : Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff (born June 10, 1925) is an American civil libertarian, free speech absolutist, pro-life advocate, anti-death penalty advocate, jazz critic, historian, biographer and anecdotist, and columnist for the Village Voice, Legal Times, Washington Times, The Progressive, Editor & Publisher, Free Inquiry and Jewish World Review. He was named as one of six 2004 NEA Jazz Masters, the first non-musician to win this prestigious award.
In recent years, he has become a vocal critic of the organization he once supported, the American Civil Liberties Union, for its support of government-enforced campus and workplace speech codes [link] and affirmative action, which he considers to be state-sponsored racial and ethnic discrimination. He now serves on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group separate from the ACLU.
He is strongly critical of Bush Administration policies such as the Patriot Act and the civil liberties implications of the recent push for "homeland security." He was also strongly critical of Clinton Administration policies such as the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.
In February 2003, Hentoff signed a letter circulated by Social Democrats, USA advocating the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
Beginning in the 1980s he developed pro-life views.[link] In October 2005, Hentoff was honored by the Human Life Foundation at the Third Annual Great Defender of Life dinner.
Hentoff was educated at Boston Latin School, Northeastern University, and Harvard.
Books
- Does Anybody Give a Damn?: Nat Hentoff on Education Random House; (1977)
- Our Children Are Dying
- A Doctor Among Addicts
- Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J Muste ISBN 0960809600
- The New Equality
- The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America
- The Day They Came to Arrest the Book ISBN 0440918146
- The Man from Internal Affairs
- Boston Boy: Growing Up With Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions ISBN 096796752X
- John Cardinal O'Connor: At the Storm Center of a Changing American Catholic Church
- Free Speech for Me -- But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other ISBN 0060995106
- Listen to the Stories: Nat Hentoff on Jazz and Country Music
- Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American ISBN 0520219813
- The Nat Hentoff Reader ISBN 0306810840
- The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance ISBN 1583226214
- The Jazz Life ISBN 0306800888
- Does This School Have Capital Punishment?
- I'm Really Dragged But Nothing Gets Me Down
- Jazz Country
- This School is Driving Me Crazy
Quote
"I'm a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-lifer."External links
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