Susan Faludi
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| Susan Faludi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Susan Faludi |
| Birth date | 1959 |
| Birth place | New York City |
| Occupation | Journalist, author, historian |
| Notable works | Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Stiffed, The Terror Dream |
Susan Faludi
Susan Faludi is an American journalist, author, and cultural critic known for investigative nonfiction and feminist analysis. She has written for major publications and produced influential books analyzing social change, gender politics, and cultural narratives in the United States and Europe. Her work engages with topics spanning media, politics, history, and mental health through profiles, investigative reporting, and historical reconstruction.
Early life and education
Faludi was born in New York City and raised in Queens, New York. She attended public schools before enrolling at Harvard University, where she studied history and contributed to student publications. After Harvard, she pursued graduate work and began reporting in the United States and abroad, developing interests in international affairs including Hungary and Eastern Europe during the end of the Cold War.
Career
Faludi began her career in journalism with reporting assignments that placed her in contact with newsrooms such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. She wrote for magazines including The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Vanity Fair. Her reportage covered subjects associated with public figures and institutions like Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, and major events such as the Gulf War and the 1992 United States presidential election. She has taught or lectured at universities and institutes including Columbia University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and New York University. Faludi also worked with investigative news organizations and think tanks connected to discussions about media responsibility including Columbia Journalism Review and the Pew Research Center.
Major works and themes
Faludi's first major book, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1989), examined cultural and political reactions to the second-wave feminism era, critiquing media narratives and political actors including scholars and journalists at outlets like Time (magazine), Newsweek, and The New York Times Book Review. Her subsequent book, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man (1999), explored masculinities and economic change in the context of deindustrialization, referencing regions such as the Rust Belt and institutions like General Motors, U.S. Steel, and labor movements including the United Auto Workers. In The Terror Dream: Myth and Misogyny in an Insecure America (2007), she analyzed the cultural aftermath of the September 11 attacks and media representations involving figures such as Rudy Giuliani, George W. Bush, and cultural texts like The New York Post headlines and television shows on networks including Fox News and CNN. She later published In the Darkroom (2016), a memoir and investigative family history that engaged with themes of identity, immigration, and postwar Europe, involving countries such as Hungary, institutions like Auschwitz-Birkenau, and historical figures connected to twentieth-century European history. Across her books, Faludi interrogates narratives propagated by outlets such as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian, and examines policy debates involving lawmakers and courts such as the United States Supreme Court.
Awards and recognition
Faludi has received literary and journalism prizes from institutions including the Pulitzer Prize circle, the National Book Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and awards associated with organizations like the New York Public Library and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has been honored with fellowships from foundations such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and academic fellowships at centers like the Harvard Kennedy School and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Personal life
Faludi's family history spans Hungary and the Holocaust; she has written about relatives connected to twentieth-century European upheavals and postwar migrations to the United States. She has lived in New York City and spent extended periods in Budapest researching family archives and European history. Faludi engages with communities and organizations that involve public intellectual life in cities including Boston, Princeton, and Los Angeles.
Critical reception and influence
Faludi's work has provoked debate among commentators at publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Salon, Slate, and The Guardian. Critics and supporters have cited responses from public intellectuals and scholars including Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Ann Coulter, Camille Paglia, Naomi Wolf, Judith Butler, Michael Kimmel, Christopher Lasch, and Allan Bloom when discussing Faludi's theses on feminism and masculinity. Academics in departments at institutions such as Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and University of Michigan have engaged with her arguments in journals and conferences. Her books have influenced activists, policymakers, and journalists at organizations like NOW (National Organization for Women), labor unions including the AFL–CIO, and media outlets reshaping narratives about gender and public policy.
Category:American journalists Category:American non-fiction writers