Joshua Prager (writer)

Joshua Harris Prager (born 1971 in Eagle Butte, South Dakota) is an American journalist and author. His book The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, is about the Shot Heard 'Round the World, a famous 1951 baseball playoff game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. He is a former [1] reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a 2011 Nieman fellow at Harvard.[2]

Prager often writes of historical secrets. He found the reclusive heir of Margaret Wise Brown, author of the classic children's book Goodnight Moon.[3] He confirmed the decades-long rumor that the New York Giants had stolen signs en route to the 1951 pennant.[4] He named the only anonymous winner in the history of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Iranian photographer Jahangir Razmi.[5] Prager revealed the suicides of the parents of Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. [6] In 2011, Prager revealed that baseball pitcher Ralph Branca (pitcher in the aforementioned baseball game) was born to a Jewish mother.[7]

Personal background

Prager was born in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. He attended the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, the Ramaz High School in Manhattan,[8] and Columbia College, where he studied music theory.[9]

In May, 1990, Prager was partially paralyzed in a bus accident.[10]

Prager is the son of Columbia University physician and medical ethics expert Kenneth Prager, and the nephew of commentator Dennis Prager.[11]

References

  1. ^ Departing WSJ Writer: 'All That Is "Urgent" Has Doubtless Stifled the Boundless Creativity of the Journal Staff'
  2. ^ 2 AP staffers among 24 selected as Nieman Fellows
  3. ^ Joshua Prager (September 8, 2000). "Runaway Money". Wall Street Journal. p. A1. http://joshuaprager.com/wsj/articles/goodnightmoon/. 
  4. ^ Joshua Prager (January 31, 2001). "Inside Baseball". Wall Street Journal. p. A1. http://joshuaprager.com/wsj/articles/baseball/. 
  5. ^ Joshua Prager (December 2, 2006). "A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History". Wall Street Journal. p. A1. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116499510215538266-w6oLtTyb6LO2glORvqxTV1PwiTM_20061211.html?mod=blogs. 
  6. ^ Joshua Prager (February 28, 2009). "The Wallenberg Curse". Wall Street Journal. p. A1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123207264405288683.html. 
  7. ^ Joshua Prager (August 14, 2011). "For Branca, an Asterisk of a Different Kind". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/sports/baseball/for-branca-an-asterisk-of-a-different-kind.html. 
  8. ^ Cohen, Irwin. "Baseball Is Dull Only To Those With Dull Minds", The Jewish Press, February 7, 2007. "The best book you can get about Thomson’s homer, the 1951 season, the players, sign-stealing and more is Joshua Prager’s The Echoing Green. Prager, who grew up in New Jersey, went to Moriah Day School, Ramaz High School and spent a year in yeshiva after high school before going on to college and a writing career with The Wall Street Journal."
  9. ^ http://joshuaprager.com/wsj"Joshua Prager grew up in New Jersey and studied music theory at Columbia College."
  10. ^ Prager, Joshua."A Movie Stokes My Memories",The Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2007.
  11. ^ Ford, Luke. Article on Dennis Prager, LukeFord.net (March 13, 1998).

External links