William A. Henry III

William A. Henry III (1950-1994) was an American cultural critic and author.

Henry lived in Boston as a young man and began his career in journalism in that city, writing for the "Boston Globe". His coverage of school desegregation in Boston won a (shared) Pulitzer Prize in 1975. He also wrote on the arts for the "Globe", winning a second Pulitzer for his television criticism in 1980. [ Official website of the [http://www.Pulitzer.org Pulitzer Prize] ]

In the 1980s he worked as an arts critic for "Time" magazine, while pursuing his interests in cultural criticism and in American politics. Among his notable works were his 1984 book, "Visions of America", on the American presidential campaign of that year; his 1990 video documentary of Bob Fosse, "Steam Heat", which won an Emmy; and his 1992 (print) biography of Jackie Gleason, "The Great One". [Henry's biographical sketch at [http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385479431&view=rg Random House] , which published "In Defense of Elitism"]

His final, and perhaps most notable, book was "In Defense of Elitism", a work of social and cultural criticism that argued that societies and cultures might be ranked on a spectrum ranging from 'egalitarianism' to 'elitism', and that the contemporary United States had moved too far away from the latter; a view he defended with reference to college education, multiculturalism, and other topics. He died of a heart attack on June 28, 1994, while the book was coming to press. [ [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1166,00.html Short obituary] of Henry at "Time" magazine; [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981090,00.html long obituary] of Henry at "TIME Magazine"]

References

External links

* George Scialabba's [http://www.georgescialabba.net/archive/000280.php review] of "In Defense of Elitism"