Epstein, Jason 1928–

PERSONAL: Born August 25, 1928, in Cambridge, MA; son of Robert and Gladys (Shapiro) Epstein; married Barbara Zimmerman (an editor), December 30, 1953 (divorced); children: Jacob, Helen. Education: Columbia College, B.A., 1949; Columbia University, M.A., 1950.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 1143, Sag Harbor, NY 11963-0039.

CAREER: Editor, publishing executive, and writer. Doubleday & Co., New York, NY, editor, 1951–58; Anchor Books, founder, 1952–58; Random House, Inc., New York, NY, vice president and editorial director, 1958–97; New York Review of Books, co-founder, 1963; associated with Library of America literary series, 1979–89; Reader's Catalogue, founder, 1989. Children's Television Workshop, consultant.

MEMBER: Council on Foreign Relations, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: John Jay Award, Columbia College, 1988; National Book Award Lifetime Achievement Award, 1988; Curtis Benjamin Award for Creative Publishing, 1993; Lifetime Achievement Award, Guild Hall, 2001; National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, 2002.

WRITINGS:

The Great Conspiracy Trial: An Essay on Law, Liberty, and the Constitution, Random House (New York, NY), 1970.

(With Elizabeth Barlow) East Hampton: A History and Guide, Medway Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1975, revised 3rd edition, foreword by Everett T. Rattay, illustrated by Ralph Carpentier, Random House (New York, NY), 1985.

Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2001.

Contributor to various periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: A longtime and highly respected New York publisher and editor, Jason Epstein wrote Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future, a revised version of a series of three lectures he gave in 1999 at the New York Public Library. In the book, Epstein provides readers with a comprehensive view of the publishing industry from the time he first joined it in the early 1950s. In addition to describing how the industry has changed over the years, the author also discusses the industry's possible future. "I might be altogether wrong about the future," Epstein told Jerome Weeks for an article that appeared in the Dallas Morning News. Nevertheless he added, "I've been right more often than wrong." Noting that Epstein altered the paperback book publishing business in the early 1950s and helped found the noted intellectual periodical the New York Review of Books, Weeks commented: "He certainly has the track record; he's been one of the mandarins of American literature."

In Book Business, Epstein describes the publishing industry in the second half of the twentieth century by giving readers an insider's view of his own career at the giant publishing firms of Doubleday and Random House. "Epstein's stroll down memory lane is crowded with the accomplishments and woes of many well-known publishers … and the innocent … idiosyncrasies of writers," commented Bonnie Smothers in a review of Book Business in Booklist. As for the future of the industry, Epstein is critical of some changes in the industry but has an optimistic outlook because of the World Wide Web and the opportunities it offers for not only ordering and distributing but also for enabling readers worldwide to search for and get the books that they want, even the most difficult titles. He writes that changes in publishing may one day allow it to return to prominence as a kind of "cottage industry." "The key to such a future, Epstein is convinced, is a giant consortium of publishers, large and small, who will get together to sell their books online, bypassing retail booksellers," wrote John F. Baker in an article in Publishers Weekly. Another Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "congenial, erudite, electrifying." Olivier Chatelain, writing in Libraries & Culture, commented that the book is "an enjoyable one, a fun read." A Bookseller contributor wrote: "Mr Epstein's vision of the digital future of texts is persuasive."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Newsmakers 1991, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1991.

PERIODICALS

American Prospect, January 29, 2001, Scott Stossel, review of Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future, p. 41.

Booklist, February 1, 1971, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial: An Essay on Law, Liberty, and the Constitution, p. 430; January 1, 2001, Bonnie Smothers, review of Book Business, p. 876.

Bookseller, June 29, 2001, review of Book Business, p. 26.

Book World, October 25, 1970, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial: An Essay on Law, Liberty, and the Constitution, p. 1.

Business Week, February 12, 2001, review of Book Business, p. 20E6.

Dallas Morning News, February 7, 2001, Jerome Weeks, "A Peek at the Next Chapter in Publishing," interview with author.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1970, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial, p. 1068.

Libraries & Culture, winter, 2003, Olivier Chatelain, review of Book Business, p. 89.

Library Journal, March 1, 1971, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial, p. 853.

Library Quarterly, July, 2002, Greg Bak, review of Book Business, p. 383.

Nation, February 12, 2001, Gayle Feldman, review of Book Business, p. 35.

New Statesman, April 23, 2001, Nicholas Clee, review of Book Business, p. 55.

Newsweek, November 16, 1970, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial, p. 116.

New York Times, October 30, 1970, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial, p. 39.

Publishers Weekly, September 21, 1970, review of The Great Conspiracy Trial, p. 53; March 1, 1993, "Curtis Benjamin Award Goes to Random House's Jason Epstein," p. 7; December 11, 2000, review of Book Business, p. 74; January 1, 2002, John F. Baker, "A Pioneer Gazes Ahead," interview with author, p. 52.

Report on Business Magazine, January, 2002, review of Book Business, p. 91.

Technology Review (Cambridge, MA), January, 2005, Marco Ventura, "The Future of Books," profile of author, p. 60.

Writer, April, 2002, Marc Duane Anderson, review of Book Business, p. 45.

ONLINE

Book & the Computer, http://www.honco.net/ (April 23, 2001), "The Next Golden Age of Publishing: An Interview with Jason Epstein."

Columbia College Web site, http://www.college.columbia.edu/ (November 22, 2005), Timothy P. Cross, "Alumni Profile: Jason Epstein '49 Looks Back—and Ahead."