Editing Jonathan Schell (section)

==Life and career==
===Early life and education===
Schell was born in [[New York City]] on August 21, 1943, to Orville Hickock Schell Jr., a lawyer who chaired [[Americas Watch]], and Marjorie Bertha.<ref name="Bernstein2014">{{cite web |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |date=2014-03-26 |title=Writer opposed nuclear arms race <!--first published online with the title "Jonathan Schell, author 'The Fate of the Earth,' dies at 70"--> |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/2014/03/26/02c76602-b51a-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html |url-access=subscription |website=The Washington Post |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327170850/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/2014/03/26/02c76602-b51a-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html |archive-date=2014-03-27}}</ref><ref name="Fox2014">{{cite web |last1=Fox |first1=Margalit |author-link1=Margalit Fox |date=2014-03-26 |title=Jonathan Schell, 70, Author on War in Vietnam and Nuclear Age, Dies <!--first published online with the title "Jonathan Schell, Author Who Explored War, Dies at 70"--> |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/us/jonathan-schell-author-who-explored-war-dies-at-70.html |url-access=limited |website=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327072517/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/us/jonathan-schell-author-who-explored-war-dies-at-70.html |archive-date=2014-03-27}}</ref> His siblings included a sister, Suzanne, and a brother, [[Orville Schell]], a former Dean of the [[University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism]] and, {{As of|lc=y|since=y|2006|post=,}} the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.–China Relations at [[Asia Society]] in New York.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pogrebin |first1=Robin |author-link1=Robin Pogrebin |date=2006-09-26 |title=Journalist and China Expert to Head Center at Asia Society |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/arts/journalist-and-china-expert-to-head-center-at-asia-society.html |url-access=limited |website=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204035548/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/arts/journalist-and-china-expert-to-head-center-at-asia-society.html |archive-date=2024-12-04}}</ref> He studied at [[Dalton School]] in New York and graduated from [[The Putney School]] in Vermont.<ref name="Fox2014" /> In 1965 he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Far Eastern history. He then spent a year learning Japanese at the [[International Christian University]] in Tokyo.<ref name="Bernstein2014" />

===Early career: Vietnam, ''The New Yorker''===
After completing his studies in Tokyo, Schell flew to [[Saigon]] in January 1967, as [[United_States in the Vietnam War|American involvement]] in the [[Vietnam War]] continued to escalate.<ref name="LAT2014">{{cite web |author1=<!--Staff and wire byline.--> |date=2014-03-26 |title=Jonathan Schell dies at 70; author and anti-nuclear activist |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jonathan-schell-20140327-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226042217/https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jonathan-schell-20140327-story.html |archive-date=2024-12-26}}</ref> He managed to acquire a [[press pass]] by claiming to be a correspondent for ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'', and would later recount how the [[United States news media and the Vietnam War|correspondents reporting on the war]] "took [him] under their wing".<ref name="Remnick2014">{{Cite web |last1=Remnick |first1=David |author-link1=David Remnick |date=2014-03-26 |title=Postscript: Jonathan Schell, 1943-2014 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/postscript-jonathan-schell-1943-2014 |url-access=limited |website=The New Yorker |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250105082857/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/postscript-jonathan-schell-1943-2014 |archive-date=2025-01-05}}</ref> He was a witness to [[Operation Cedar Falls]], writing particularly on the destruction of [[Bến Súc]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Schell |first1=Jonathan |date=1967-07-15 |title=The Village of Ben Suc |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/07/15/the-village-of-ben-suc |department=A Reporter at Large |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=43 |issue=21 |pages=28–93 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605070440/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/07/15/the-village-of-ben-suc |archive-date=2023-06-05}}</ref> His reportage was published first in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' and then as a book, ''The Village of Ben Suc'', with [[Alfred A. Knopf]].<ref name="Remnick2014" />

His second book, ''The Military Half: An Account of Destruction in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin'', published in 1968, also drew a graphic picture of the devastating effects of American bombings and ground operations on [[Quảng Ngãi Province]] and [[Quảng Tín Province]] in South Vietnam.<ref name="Fox2014" /><ref>{{cite web |author1=<!--No author name given.--> |date=1968-06-01 |title=Review of ''The Military Half: An Account of the Destruction in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin'' |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/jonathan-schell-4/the-military-half-an-account-of-the-destruction/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226041615/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/jonathan-schell-4/the-military-half-an-account-of-the-destruction/ |archive-date=2024-12-26}}</ref>

{{Quote box |quote=Never has a nation unleashed so much violence with so little risk to itself. It is the government's way of waging war without the support of its own people, and involves us all in the dishonor of killing in a cause we are no longer willing to die for. |author=Jonathan Schell |source=''The New Yorker'', 1972<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Schell |first1=Jonathan <!--uncredited/unsigned--> |date=1972-04-22 |title=Notes and Comment |url=https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1972-04-22/flipbook/032/ |url-access=subscription |department=The Talk of the Town |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=48 |issue=9 |access-date=2025-01-20 |postscript=none}}; quoted in {{harvnb|Bernstein|2014}}.</ref> |align=right |width=35%}}
From 1967 until 1987, Schell was a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'', where he served as the principal writer of the magazine's Notes and Comment section. He wrote essays for the magazine on the [[presidency of Richard Nixon]], including the [[Watergate scandal]] that led to the president's resignation in 1974, that formed the basis to his book, ''The Time of Illusion''. The Notes and Comments section was awarded the [[George Polk Award]] for Commentary in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |date=<!--Continuously updated website, no date given.--> |title=Past George Polk Award Winners |url=https://liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners |website=George Polk Awards |publisher=Long Island University |at=1979 George Polk Award Winners |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114232115/https://liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners |archive-date=2025-01-14 |access-date=2025-01-20}}</ref>

In 1977, [[William Shawn]], the longtime editor-in-chief of ''The New Yorker'', designated Schell as his chosen successor to replace him but he was forced to rescind that plan as it proved immediately unpopular with the magazine's staff.<ref name="Botsford2003">{{cite book |last1=Botsford |first1=Gardner |year=2003 |title=A Life of Privilege, Mostly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ia-2AQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA237&printsec=frontcover |publication-place=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-30343-3 |access-date=2025-01-19}}</ref>{{rp|pp=238–242}} Shawn revisited the same plan in 1982 but again withdrew Schell's name from consideration in the face of a staff revolt. Ultimately, upon a change of ownership of the magazine in 1987, Shawn was removed and replaced as editor-in-chief with [[Robert Gottlieb]].<ref name="Botsford2003" />{{rp|p=258}}

In the early 1980s, Schell wrote a series of articles in ''The New Yorker'', subsequently published in 1982 as ''[[The Fate of the Earth]]'', which were instrumental in raising public awareness about the dangers of the [[nuclear arms race]] and became an essential part of the [[Nuclear Freeze campaign]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gusterson |first1=Hugh |author-link1=Hugh Gusterson |date=2012-03-30 |url=https://thebulletin.org/2012/03/the-new-abolitionists/ <!-- former URL at http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/hugh-gusterson/the-new-abolitionists--> |title=The new abolitionists |website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207182435/https://thebulletin.org/2012/03/the-new-abolitionists/ |archive-date=2024-12-07 |quote=The preeminent intellectual associated with [the Nuclear Freeze] movement, Jonathan Schell{{nbsp}}...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wittner |first1=Lawrence S. |author-link1=Lawrence S. Wittner |year=2003 |title=A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, 1971 to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ouQhNthlHgC&hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA187&printsec=frontcover |series=Stanford Nuclear Age Series |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=187 |doi=10.1515/9781503624320 |isbn=978-0-8047-4862-9 |access-date=2025-01-20 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The book received the [[Los Angeles Times Book Prize|''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize]], and was nominated for the [[Pulitzer Prize]], the [[National Book Award]], and the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]].<ref name="LAT2014" /><ref>{{cite web |title=1983 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1983 |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614193602/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1983 |archive-date=2023-06-14 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |title=National Book Awards 1983 |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1983/?cat=general-nonfiction-pb&sub-cat=general-nonfiction-hc |website=<!--Website name the same as publisher.--> |publisher=National Book Foundation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527121100/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1983/?cat=general-nonfiction-pb&sub-cat=general-nonfiction-hc |archive-date=2024-05-27 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |title=The National Book Critics Circle Awards: 1982 Winners & Finalists |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1982/ |website=<!--Website name the same as publisher.--> |publisher=National Book Critics Circle |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241219091804/https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1982/ |archive-date=2024-12-19}}</ref> He became an advocate for [[Nuclear disarmament|disarmament]] and a world free of [[nuclear weapons]].<ref name="LAT2014" />

===Later career: ''The Nation'', teaching===
In 1987, Schell was a fellow at the [[Harvard Institute of Politics]] at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]], and in 2002 he served as a fellow at the Kennedy School's [[Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy]].<ref name="ShorensteinBio">{{cite web |year=2002 |title=Jonathan Schell |url=https://shorensteincenter.org/staff_bio/jonathan-schell/ |website=<!--Website name the same as publisher.--> |publisher=Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250120022646/https://shorensteincenter.org/staff_bio/jonathan-schell/ |archive-date=2025-01-20}}</ref> He was a visiting lecturer at [[Yale Law School]] in 2003, and a fellow at the [[Yale Center for the Study of Globalization]] in 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jonathan Schell |url=http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/activities/schell_bio.html |website=<!--Website name the same as publisher.--> |publisher=Yale Center for the Study of Globalization |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228083105/http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/activities/schell_bio.html |archive-date=2014-12-28}}</ref> He taught at several other universities, including [[Princeton University|Princeton]], [[Emory University|Emory]], [[New York University]], [[The New School]], and [[Wesleyan University]].<ref name="SchellMemorialLecture">{{cite web |title=Jonathan Schell Memorial Lecture Series |url=https://typemediacenter.org/prizes/fate-of-the-earth/ |website=<!--Website name the same as publisher.--> |publisher=Type Media Center |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917055511/https://typemediacenter.org/prizes/fate-of-the-earth/ |archive-date=2024-09-17}}</ref> At the time of his death he was a visiting lecturer at [[Yale College]].<ref name="Bernstein2014" />

He was a columnist for ''[[Newsday]]'' from 1990 until 1996.<ref name="ShorensteinBio" /> From 1998 to his death in 2014, he was a senior fellow at [[Type Media Center|The Nation Institute]] and the peace and disarmament correspondent for ''[[The Nation]]'' magazine.<ref name="SchellMemorialLecture" /> In addition, he wrote for ''[[Tom Engelhardt|TomDispatch]]'', ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', and ''[[The Atlantic]]''.<ref name="ShorensteinBio" /><ref name="Queally2014">{{cite web |last1=Queally |first1=Jon |date=2014-03-26 |title=Progressives Mourn Passing of Author and Activist Jonathan Schell |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/03/26/progressives-mourn-passing-author-and-activist-jonathan-schell <!--Former URL at http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/26-3--> |website=Common Dreams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227055054/https://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/03/26/progressives-mourn-passing-author-and-activist-jonathan-schell |archive-date=2015-02-27}}</ref>

In 2002 and 2003, Schell was a persistent critic of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schell |first1=Jonathan |date=2003-02-13 |title=The Case Against the War |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/case-against-war-0/ |url-access=limited |website=The Nation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305102806/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/case-against-war-0/ |archive-date=2020-03-05}}</ref> He later commented, "There doesn't seem to be a rush to find the people who were right about Iraq and install them in the mainstream media."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reed |first1=Jebediah |date=January 10, 2007 |title=The Iraq Gamble |url=http://www.radaronline.com/features/2007/01/betting_on_iraq_8.php |website=[[Radar Online|Radar]] |at=Right but Poor: Jonathan Schell |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114074936/http://www.radaronline.com/features/2007/01/betting_on_iraq_8.php |archive-date=2007-01-14}}</ref>

Jonathan Schell died at age 70, on March 25, 2014, at his home in [[Brooklyn]], with a cancer caused by an underlying blood condition that may have been caused by [[Agent Orange]]. His last years were spent in research on climate change for an unwritten book he titled ''The Human Shadow.''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Engelhardt |first1=Tom |author-link1=Tom Engelhardt |date=March 30, 2014 |title=In Memoriam: Jonathan Schell (1943-2014) |url=https://tomdispatch.com/in-memoriam-jonathan-schell-1943-2014/ |website=TomDispatch.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414103247/https://tomdispatch.com/in-memoriam-jonathan-schell-1943-2014/ |archive-date=2024-04-14}}</ref>