Nat Hentoff (1925–2017)

Author of The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

49+ Works 1,841 Members 22 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Nathan Irving Hentoff was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 10, 1925. He graduated from Northeastern University in 1946. After several years with a Boston radio station, he moved to New York in 1953 and covered jazz for Down Beat until 1957. In 1958, he was a founding editor of The Jazz Review show more that lasted until 1961. He wrote for The New Yorker from 1960 to 1986, for The Washington Post from 1984 to 2000, and for The Village Voice from 1958 to 2009. During his freelance career, his work appeared in Esquire, Harper's, Commonweal, The Reporter, Playboy, The New York Herald Tribune, Jewish World Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Times. In 1995, he received the National Press Foundation's award for lifetime achievement in contributions to journalism. He wrote more than 35 books during his lifetime. His nonfiction works included The Jazz Life, Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J. Muste, The New Equality, Living the Bill of Rights, and Free Speech for Me - but Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other. He wrote several memoirs including Boston Boy and Speaking Freely. In 1955, he co-edited with Nat Shapiro Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It. His young adult novels included Jazz Country, This School Is Driving Me Crazy, Does This School Have Capital Punishment?, and The Day They Came to Arrest the Book. He died on January 7, 2017 at the age of 91. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: N. Hentoff, Hentoff Nat, ed Nat Hentoff, ed. Nat Hentoff, introduction and commentary Nat Hentoff

Series

Sam at School

Works by Nat Hentoff

Popular Recent

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (1982) 337 copies, 7 reviews

Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (1955) 189 copies, 2 reviews

Free Speech for Me--But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other (1992) 161 copies, 2 reviews

The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance (2003) 94 copies, 1 review

Jazz Is (1976) 82 copies, 1 review

Jazz Country (1965) 67 copies

Boston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions (1986) 66 copies

Jazz: New Perspectives On The History Of Jazz By Twelve Of The World's Foremost Jazz Critics And Scholars (1974) 62 copies

Peace Agitator: Story of A. J. Muste (1982) 57 copies

The Essays of A. J. Muste (1970) — Editor — 56 copies, 2 reviews

The Jazz Life (1975) 52 copies, 1 review

The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America (1980) 50 copies, 1 review

Does This School Have Capital Punishment? (1981) 44 copies

Our Children Are Dying (1967) 44 copies

This School Is Driving Me Crazy (1975) 43 copies

John Cardinal O'Connor: At the Storm Center of a Changing American Catholic Church (1988) 43 copies

Listen to the Stories: Nat Hentoff on Jazz and Country Music (1995) 42 copies

I'm Really Dragged but Nothing Gets Me Down (1968) 42 copies, 1 review

Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American (1998) 36 copies

At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene (2010) 33 copies

The Nat Hentoff Reader (2001) 32 copies

Speaking Freely: A Memoir (1997) 29 copies

The Jazz Makers (1975) — Editor — 27 copies

Blues for Charlie Darwin (1982) 22 copies

American Music Is (2004) 21 copies, 2 reviews

The new equality (1964) 17 copies

In The Country Of Ourselves (1971) 16 copies

Man from Internal Affairs (1985) 12 copies

American Heroes (1987) 8 copies

Our Children are Dying and The Headmaster (1967) 7 copies

Call the Keeper (1966) 6 copies

Walden, and Other Writings (International Collectors Library) 5 copies

Journey into jazz (1968) 5 copies

Jazz Street Photographs by Dennis Stock (1960) 5 copies

Does anybody give a damn? : On education (1977) 4 copies

A Political Life The Education of John V. Lindsay 3 copies

Agente especial (1985) 3 copies

Blues para Charlie Darwin (1982) 3 copies

Onwards! a novel (1968) 3 copies

A Doctor Among the Addicts. (1968) 2 copies

Discrimination in its cruelest form 2 copies, 2 reviews

Henry David Thoreau: Walden and Other Writings 2 copies

Esta Escola põe-me Doido (1990) 1 copy

Insisting On Life 1 copy

Jazz New Perspectives on the History Of 1 copy

Esta escola põe-me doido! (1990) 1 copy

Norman Granz' Jazz in Montreux: Joe Pass '75 1 copy

Die Bluthunde kommen (1994) 1 copy

The Jazz Life First Edition 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now (1996) — Contributor — 212 copies, 4 reviews

Sketches of Spain (1960) — Notes, some editions — 142 copies

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) — Liner Notes, some editions — 137 copies, 2 reviews

The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates (2004) — Contributor — 85 copies

Bob Dylan [1962 sound recording] (1962) — Liner Notes, some editions — 79 copies, 1 review

The Jazz Image: Masters of Jazz Photography (2001) — Introduction — 48 copies

Live at the Village Vanguard (1980) — Introduction — 42 copies, 1 review

Black Anti-Semitism and Jewish Racism (1969) — Introduction — 39 copies

Remembering Bix: A Memoir of the Jazz Age (1974) — Foreword — 38 copies

The Bob Dylan Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (The Companion Series) (1998) — Contributor — 36 copies

The Thelonious Monk Reader (Readers in American Music) (2001) — Contributor — 31 copies

What'd I Say: The Atlantic Story (2001) — Contributor — 27 copies

Frasconi Against the Grain: The Woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi (1974) — Introduction — 24 copies

The John Coltrane Companion : Five Decades of Commentary (Companion Series) (1998) — Contributor — 23 copies

Cool Struttin' [sound recording] (1999) — Notes, some editions — 18 copies

Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence (1997) — Contributor — 17 copies

The American folk scene; dimensions of the folksong revival (1967) — Contributor, some editions — 16 copies, 1 review

Gasoline Alley (1976) — Introduction — 13 copies, 1 review

Speak Like A Child (1968) — Notes, some editions — 6 copies

Hustler Magazine, January 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 2 copies

TO BE YOUNG IN BABYLON: A Dramatic Personal Account of Teen-Age Radicals — Introduction — 1 copy

Goin West by Grant Green (2004-02-24) — Notes, some editions — 1 copy

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1960s (11) American (10) art (12) autobiography (10) Bill of Rights (10) biography (70) Bob Dylan (19) CD (30) censorship (42) civil liberties (19) civil rights (14) criticism (13) education (15) essays (34) fiction (68) First Amendment (14) folk (26) folk music (15) free speech (11) history (50) interviews (9) jazz (250) jazz music (22) law (35) memoir (25) music (248) music criticism (9) music history (10) non-fiction (72) novel (15) own (20) pacifism (11) peace (11) photography (10) politics (60) read (15) to-read (38) USA (23) YA (23) young adult (16)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Hentoff, Nathan Irving
Birthdate: 1925-06-10
Date of death: 2017-01-07
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Place of death: New York, New York, USA
Cause of death: natural causes
Places of residence: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
New York, New York, USA
Education: Boston Latin School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Northeastern University (BA)
Harvard University
Occupations: journalist
civil liberatarian
writer of adult and young adult fiction
Organizations: Village Voice
New Yorker
Washington Post
Down Beat
Awards and honors: American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award

Members

Reviews

American Music Is by Nat Hentoff

Hentoff is one of our great jazz critics who occasionally also ventures into various other genres. This book collects many writings from the late 90's and early oughts. It focuses on things that have been or are overlooked and I ended up making a list of things to look up, starting with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm--an all-girl band that swung like Basie and Ellington. A good read all-around.

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spencerrich | 1 other review | Jul 30, 2024 |

American Music Is by Nat Hentoff

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spencerrich | 1 other review | Jul 30, 2024 |

The Essays of A. J. Muste by A. J. Muste

A collection of essays compiled and edited by Nat Hentoff, ranging across the career of one of the most respected conscientious pacifists in the United States in the 20th century, sometimes referred to as the "American Gandhi."

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PendleHillLibrary | 1 other review | Nov 1, 2023 |

First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free… by Nat Hentoff

3807. The First Freedom The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America by Nat Hentoff (read 26 Oct 2022) This book was published in 1980--more than 40 years ago--but I found it actually not out-of-date so far as I could tell. It names many cases but I was appalled that there is not a legal citation in the book. I know the author is not a lawyer but it would have been easy to make his book better by giving the legal citation of the many cases he refers to. The author was a strong and able proponent of free speech and he well sets out the case for free speech even if the speech is distasteful and repulsive. I think the legal situation as to free speech is still today as he indicates it was 40 years ago. Since it is over 70 years ago that I had a course in constitutional law and and it was not a big factor in the years I was a lawyer and judge I think I learned something by reading the book and so I am glad I did.… (more)

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Schmerguls | Oct 26, 2022 |

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