Lewis Henry Lapham (/ˈlæpəm/; born January 8, 1935) is an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006.[1] He is the founder of Lapham's Quarterly, a quarterly publication about history and literature, and has written numerous books on politics and current affairs.
A son of Lewis A. Lapham and Jane Foster, Lapham was born and grew up in San Francisco.[2] His grandfather Roger Lapham was mayor of San Francisco, and his great-grandfather, Lewis Henry Lapham, was a founder of Texaco. Through his grandfather, Lapham is the son of the first cousin of actor Christopher Lloyd, although Lapham is three years older. As a child, he attended the Hotchkiss School.
In 1972, Lapham married Joan Brooke Reeves, the daughter of Edward J. Reeves, a stockbroker and grocery heir, and Elizabeth M. Brooke (formerly the wife of Thomas Wilton Phipps, a nephew of Nancy Astor). They have three children:
Delphina (married Prince Don Bante Maria Boncompagni-Ludovisi)[3]
Lewis Lapham served as editor of Harper's Magazine from 1976 to 2006 (with a hiatus from 1981 to 1983). He was managing editor from 1971 to 1975, after having worked for the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Herald Tribune. He is largely responsible for the modern look and prominence of the magazine, having introduced many of its signature features, including the "Harper's Index". He announced that he would become editor emeritus in spring 2006, continuing to write his Notebook column for the magazine as well as editing a new journal about history, Lapham's Quarterly. Lapham has also worked with the PEN American Center, sitting on the board of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. In 2007, he was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame.[4]
Lapham wrote a September 2004 column for Harper's in which he included a brief account of the Republican National Convention as if he had witnessed it, "reflecting on the content and sharing with readers a question that occurred to him as he listened", as Jennifer Senior wrote in the New York Times Book Review.[5] The magazine arrived in subscribers' mailboxes before the convention took place, as Senior says "forcing Lapham to admit that the scene was a fiction". The columnist apologized, "but pointed out political conventions are drearily scripted anyway – he basically knew what was going to be said". Senior continues, "By this logic, though, I could have chosen not to read Pretensions to Empire before reviewing it, since I already knew Lapham's sensibility, just as he claims to know the Republicans."[5]
Lapham is the host and author of the PBS series America's Century and he was host of the weekly PBS series, Bookmark from 1989 to 1991.[7]
Lapham is currently the host of The World in Time: radio discussions with scholars and historians on Bloomberg Radio that open the doors of history behind the events in the news. Podcasts of the weekly talks are available at Bloomberg.com.[8]
^"Lewis Lapham", Guest, Charlie Rose, archived from the original on May 14, 2008, retrieved July 7, 2008.
^Adams, James (October 29, 2004). "Lewis Lapham". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on June 11, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^"Gotha", Royalty, Chivalric orders, archived from the original on June 13, 2010.
^Past recipients, Magazine, archived from the original on June 26, 2012, retrieved September 16, 2011.
^ abSenior, Jennifer (September 24, 2006), "Takin Aim", The New York Times Book Review (review of Pretensions to Empire by Lewis H. Lapham and How Bush RulesbySidney Blumenthal), archived from the original on December 4, 2011, retrieved September 23, 2006.
^Lapham, Lewis H (April 4, 2011). The Servant Problem. Archived from the original on April 6, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help).
