Joe Lelyveld: Remembering A Great Journalist

A few months ago, I didn't understand that Joseph Lelyveld was one of the greatest journalists of our time.  Two of his books were on our shelves. But I had never read them. And even though I met Joe briefly at a party, he barely said a word to me – so I didn't have any impression of him.

That all changed with the new episode of I Couldn't Throw It Out.

Janny Scott – a friend from college who was Joe's partner for 19 years -- told me that she had made an unusual decision about Joe's possessions after he died in 2024.

Specifically, Janny didn't change anything in Joe's home office. Every post-it, photo, scribbled list, book, and keepsake is there, just as he left it.

When I asked Janny if she'd show me the office for the podcast, she agreed. But first, I had to do some research. I started by reading articles that had been written about Joe. This taught me that he spent most of his career at the New York Times, as a correspondent in Congo, South Africa, India, Hong Kong, and other places, before he rose to the top editorial position as executive editor.

Then I read Joe's 1985 Pulitzer Prize winning book, Move Your Shadow. It's one of the most thorough and insightful books about South Africa's Apartheid government, in the decades before it toppled in 1990. Though I knew about that regime's vicious, unjust policies from family members who lived there, Joe's interviews with black and white inhabitants made it even more real. (The book is out of print, but you can still get a used copy at Abe Books.)

Next I read Joe's 2005 memoire Omaha Blues. Joe wrote the book after finding a box full of personal family letters and other items in the Ohio synagogue where his father had been rabbi. These objects brought back memories, some of them about very upsetting family matters, that he shares in the book. In fact, this is the kind of storytelling, inspired by saved objects, that we share on I Couldn't Throw It Out. Clearly, Joe was way ahead of us.

One significant surprise:  I didn't expect that someone at  the pinnacle of journalism in his later life would be willing to reveal the intimate details of an unhappy and unusual childhood.  But he did.  It's an extremely honest book.  And moving. (Buy it at Bookshop.org.)

Joe's last two books are still on my reading list. One is Great Soul, a 2011 biography of Mahatma Ghandi, the other is His Final Battle: The Last Months of Franklin Roosevelt. Just looking at the titles, it awe-inspiring that one person could write comprehensively about such a broad range of topics. More proof that Joe's mind soared in many directions.

Just in case you want to do as I did – and learn more about Joe Lelyveld --  here are a few links that I found  informative and interesting. 

Joe Lelyveld's obituary (New York Times)

Joe Lelyveld profile (New York Magazine)

Tribute from Bronx Science High School (which Joe attended)

And, of course, you can hear Janny Scott talk about Joe on I Couldn't Throw It Out podcast.

Janny's memories led me to discover the power of Joe's writings, and his life.  I hope you'll enjoy the same discovery.