Alexander Claud Cockburn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cockburn

Alexander Claud Cockburn ( /ˈkoʊbərn/ KOH-bərn; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was an Irish American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but had lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edited the political newsletter CounterPunch. Cockburn also wrote the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation as well as one for The Week in London, syndicated by Creators Syndicate.

Early life and family

Born in Scotland, Cockburn grew up in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. He was the eldest son of the sometime communist author and journalist, Claud Cockburn, by his third wife, Patricia Byron, née Arbuthnot (who also wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight). His ancestors included Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet.[1]

He had one daughter, Daisy Alice Cockburn (February 5, 1969), whose mother is the writer Emma Tennant (his wife December 13, 1968 – 1973),[2] and two younger brothers, Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn, who are also journalists. His half-sister, the barrister and mystery writer Sarah Caudwell, died in 2000. In addition, journalists Laura Flanders and Stephanie Flanders are his half-nieces, daughters of his half-sister Claudia Cockburn and her husband Michael Flanders. Actress Olivia Wilde is his niece, daughter of his brother Andrew Cockburn.

Career

After studying at Glenalmond College, an independent boys' boarding school in Perthshire, Scotland, and at Keble College, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Cockburn worked in London as a reporter and commentator.

After moving to the United States, Cockburn wrote for many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Esquire, and Harper's. From 1973 to 1983 he was a writer with The Village Voice, originating its longstanding "Press Clips" column, but he was suspended, the Voice stated, "for accepting a $10,000 grant from an Arab studies organization in 1982".[3][4] His defenders charge that his criticism of Israeli government policies was behind the firing. Cockburn has said he left the Voice following the offer of a regular column in The Nation called "Beat the Devil" (after the title of a novel by his father). Since leaving the Voice he has also written columns for the Wall Street Journal, New York Press, and the New Statesman. Cockburn was also a regular contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser.

Cockburn originally chose Irish citizenship (over UK citizenship), but in 2009 he became a citizen of the United States. He became a permanent resident of the United States in 1973. On March 16, 2009 Cockburn officially became a new columnist for the paleoconservative Chronicles magazine.

See also

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/60271.Alexander_Cockburn