Herbert Mitgang

Herbert Mitgang (January 20, 1920 – November 21, 2013) was an American author, editor, journalist, playwright, and producer of television news documentaries.

Life Born in Manhattan, he graduated with a law degree from what is now St. John's University. While a student he wrote sports articles for The Brooklyn Eagle.

Mitgang was one of the original named plaintiffs in "Authors Guild vs. Google" (2005), the purpose of which was to prevent Google from providing a complete searchable index of extant literature.

Books "Lincoln As They Saw Him" (1956) ASIN B000RQENP0 "Washington, D.C. in Lincoln’s Time" (1958) (Noah Brooks/Mitgang Ed.) "The Return" (1959) ASIN B000KBJCFI "America at Random: Topics of The Times" (Ed.) (1969) ASIN B000SATTOK "Working for the Reader: A Chronicle of Culture, Literature, War and Politics in Books from the 1950s to the Present" (1970) "Abraham Lincoln: A Press Portrait" (1971) SBN 8129-0170-3 "Spectator of America" (1971) (Edward Dicey/Mitgang Ed.) "Get These Men Out of the Hot Sun" (1972) "The Fiery Trial - A Life of Lincoln" (1974) ASIN B000HKOFYA "The Montauk Fault" (1982) "Kings in the Counting House" (1983) "Dangerous Dossiers: Exposing the Secret War Against America's Greatest Authors" (1988) "Words Still Count with Me: A Chronicle of Literary Conversations" (1995) "Once Upon a Time in New York: Jimmy Walker, Franklin Roosevelt, and the Last Great Battle of the Jazz Age" (2000) "Newsmen in Khaki: Tales of a World War II Soldier Correspondent" (2004)

Plays "Mister Lincoln" (1982) (produced in many venues including the Morosco Theater on Broadway and Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., and appeared on public television) "Adlai, Alone" (premiered in McLean County Museum of History, Bloomington, IL, 2004)

TV Documentaries While at CBS News, Mitgang wrote and produced documentaries including: "Carl Sandburg: Lincoln's Prairie Years;" "Anthony Eden on Vietnam;" “Henry Moore: Man of Form;” and "D-Day Plus 20 Years: Eisenhower Returns to Normandy."

Magazine articles Mitgang's articles and book reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, The Progressive, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Town and Country, Newsweek, American Heritage, Military History Quarterly and Art News. His articles in The New Yorker included profiles of publisher Helen Wolff and Admiral Gene LaRocque, and an article on how the FBI secretly gathered dossiers on writers and artists.

Awards and honors George S. Polk Career Award (1992) American Bar Association Silver Gavel Awards (1964, 1969); Certificates of Merit (1970, 1973) Society of the Silurians 25-year News Achievement Award (1993) Literary Lions Award, NY Public Library (1988) Barondess/Lincoln Award, Civil War Roundtable of New York (1981) NY State Bar Association Media Award (1976) Newspaper Guild of NY Human Rights Award (1958) Decorated as a Knight, Order of Merit, by the president of the Italian Republic for writings on Italian culture and literature

Family Mitgang was married to Shirley (b. Kravchick), with whom he had a son, Lee, and two daughters: Esther who died in 2007, and, Laura.

Death Mitgang died from complications of pneumonia.