Dwight Macdonald

Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was a U.S. writer, editor, film critic, social critic, philosopher, and political radical.

Early life and career

Dwight Macdonald was born in New York City, and was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Yale University. At university, he was editor of The Yale Record, the student humor magazine. As a student at Yale, he also was a member of Psi Upsilon; his first job was as a trainee executive for the Macy's department store company.

In 1929, Macdonald was employed at Time magazine; he had been offered a job by Henry Luce, a fellow alumnus at Yale University. In 1930, he became the associate editor of Fortune, then a new publication created by Luce. Like many writers on Fortune, his politics were radicalized by the Great Depression. He resigned from the magazine in 1936 over an editorial dispute, when the magazine's executives severely edited the last installment of his extended four-part attack on U.S. Steel.

In 1934, he married Nancy Gardiner Rodman (1910–1996), sister of Selden Rodman. He is the father of filmmaker and author Nicholas Macdonald; and of Michael Macdonald.