Leon Wieseltier is a Jewish-American writer, critic, and magazine editor. Since 1983 he has been the literary editor of The New Republic, where he was a vehement critic of the black scholar Cornel West for writing "popular" work more than scholarly work. A Jewish American (also commonly American Jew) is an American (a citizen of the United States) of Jewish descent or religion who maintains a connection to the Jewish community, either through actively practicing Judaism or through cultural and historical affiliation. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... A critic (derived from the ancient Greek word krites meaning a judge) is a person who offers a value judgement or an interpretation. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cover from the August 30th, 2004 issue. ... Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a prominent American scholar and public intellectual. ...

Wieseltier was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1952. He attended Columbia University, Oxford University, and Harvard University, and was a member of Harvard's Society of Fellows from 1979-1982. A map highlighting Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... The Harvard Society of Fellows is a collection of luminaries selected by Harvard University to be held close to its bosom, given special honors, thrown elegant dinners, and upon whom various privileges are bestowed. ...

Wieseltier has published several fictional and non-fictional books. Kaddish, a National Book Award finalist in 2000, is a genre-blending meditation on the Jewish prayers of mourning. Against Identity is a collection of thoughts about the modern notion of identity. Kaddish (קדיש) is a collective term, used to refer to a number of different but related prayers in Judaism, although by itself, the term is often used to refer specifically to The Mourners Kaddish. When mention is made of saying Kaddish, as part of the mourning rituals (sitting shiva) or... The National Book Awards is the most important literary prize in the United States, presented annually for the best books by living U.S. citizens published in the U.S. The awards have been presented since 1950 in at least one category, and is presently awarded in each of four... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Wieseltier also edited and introduced a volume of works by Lionel Trilling entitled The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent and wrote the foreward to Ann Weiss's The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a collection of personal photographs that serves as a paean to pre-Shoah innocence. Lionel Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. ... Shoah (denoting a catastrophic upheaval) is the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. ...

During Weseltier's tenure as literary editor of The New Republic, many of his signed and unsigned writings have appeared in the magazine. Cover from the August 30th, 2004 issue. ...