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Home: Our Faculty: Brooklyn College Faculty:

Eric Alterman

Dist Professor   Department: English   Location: 2416 Boylan Hall   Phone: 718-951-5257   Fax: 718-951-4612   Email:

Eric Alterman is Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism, and Professor of Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is also "The Liberal Media" columnist for The Nation, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, and a columnist on Jewish-related issues for Moment magazine, and a senior fellow (since 1985) at the World Policy Institute in New York. Alterman is the author of seven books, including most recently, Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America (2008, 2009), and the national best-sellers What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News (2003, 2004), and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America (2004). Alterman received his B.A. in History and Government from Cornell, his M.A. in International Relations from Yale, and his Ph.D. in US History from Stanford. Education: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, STANFORD UNIVERSITY - 2003 (HISTORY) M.A. in International Relations, Yale University - 1986 B.A. in History and Government, Cornell University - 1982 Areas of Expertise: media business, journalism, U.S. foreign relations, U.S. history, politics, American Jewish politics Books and Publications "Accounting for Kristol," The American Prospect, April, 2008. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 "Israel at 60: The State of the State" The Nation, September 3, 2008. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 "Loving John McCain," The Nation, July 7, 2008. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 "Out of Print: The Death and Life of the American Newspaper," The New Yorker, March 31, 2008. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 "Who Are they Calling Elitist?" The Nation, April 14, 2008. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Regular column for Center for American Progress, "Think Again." (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Regular Nation Magazine column, "The Liberal Media." (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Regular weblog for Media Matters, "Altercation." (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 The Cause: American Liberalism from World War II through the War on Terror (under contract to Viking Books). (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2008 Why We're Liberals : A Handbook for Post-Bush America (Viking, 2008). (Books and Publications: Book) 2008 Political Pundits in The Encyclopedia of Media and Politics, Todd M. Schaefer and Thomas A. Birkland, edit., (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2007). (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2007 "Lives of the Democrats," The New York Times Book Review, April 22, 2007. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2007 "My Marty Peretz Problem - and Ours," (On the history of The New Republic) The American Prospect, July/August, 2007. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2007 "Big Ideas Need Sharp Elbows," in Living a Life of Value, Jason A. Merchey edit. (Values of the Wise Press, 2006), reprinted from The Nation. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2006 Bush's War on the Press, The Best American Political Writing, 2005, (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006), and Annual Editions: American Government (McGraw Hill, 2006) reprinted from The Nation. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2006 "First Casualty of War," The Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2005, Newsday, November 6, 2005, etc. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2005 "The Myth of the Liberal Media," News Incorporated: Corporate Media Ownership And Its Threat To Democracy, Elliot D. Cohen, edit. (Prometheus, 2005) (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2005 "Where Roosevelt Went Wrong," The American Prospect Online, May 16, 2005 (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2005 When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences (Paperback edition, Penguin, 2005) (Books and Publications: Book) 2005 Creative Work Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," First Congregational Church of Berkeley, March 2008. 2008 Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums Panel Appearance, "Current Interest: Right & Left," Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "Democracy, Political Communication, and the New Media," Roosevelt Institution, April 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "Ethical Leadership and the US Presidency," Yeshiva University, conference January, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "How New Media Can Spark Social Change," Regional Equity 08, New Orleans, March 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "The Fall & Rise of American Liberalism: Media, Race, Religion" University of Virginia in Charlottesville, April 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "The Future of News," Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, May, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "When Checks and Balances Fail: the Media and Civil Liberties in the 2008 Election," Boston Public Library, September, 2008, Boston, MA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Debate, "The Election, Left and Right" Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, October 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Liberty and the News," Presidential Address, Queensborough Community College, Queens, New York, October, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Reclaiming Liberalism," The Wolfe Institute, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, September, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "The Future of Liberalism," Center for American Progress, Washington, DC, June, 2998. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "The Future of News,? Canadian Research Consortium," Toronto, Canada, May, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "The Media and Civil Liberties," sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, November, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "The Media and the 2008 Election," Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, October, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "What Do Jews Believe," Chai Society, Yale University, New Haven, CT, November, 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," Authors@Google, Mountain View, CA, March 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," Ethical Culture Society of St. Louis, March 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," Scarsdale Public Library, April 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," Town Hall Seattle, March 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Public Lecture, "Why We're Liberals," World Policy Institute, April 2008. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 Panel Appearance, "Is Liberalism Still Great?" The New School, March 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 Panel Appearance, "Terrorism as a Human Rights Issue," New York University Law School, February, 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 Panel Appearance, "The World and the Web, 2.0" Council on Foreign Relations, New York, October, 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 Public Lecture, "Is American Democracy Even Possible Anymore?" National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Los Angeles, March, 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 Public Lecture, "The Fall and Rise of American Liberalism," University of California, Davis, November, 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 Guest Lecture, "Media and Democracy in a Changing World," World Political Forum, Venice, Italy, Mikhail Gorbachev, Chair, June, 2006. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 Guest Lecture, "The Long, Slow Death of American Liberalism," Cornell University, November, 2006. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 Guest Lecture, "The New Media," Shorenstein Center on the Press and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, December, 2006. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 Guest Lecture, "Why Do Presidents Lie?" Rutgers University, October, 2006. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006