Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012)

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Alexander Cockburn, our good friend and staunch comrade, a wonderfully gifted writer and courageous journalist. We were privileged to publish half a dozen of his books, each major contributions to the culture and politics of the Left. Corruptions of Empire, published in 1988, displayed the impressive range of his writings, from trenchant indictments of imperialism and biting satire of liberal humbug to lyrical memories of his childhood and sardonic observation of the ruling order. Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon, written with Susanna Hecht, remains an exemplary account of a ravaged planet. Washington Babylon, written with Ken Silverstein, is a classic exposé of US politics and business.  Each of these books went through many editions.

Across more than four decades Cockburn was a relentless and prophetic opponent of  US  militarism—his brothers Patrick and Andrew ensured that Alexander’s polemics were very well informed. We were proud to publish such works as Imperial Crusades (2004), written with Jeffrey St Clair and exploring the interconnections of the US wars of intervention. Alexander wrote for a wide spectrum of  publications,  with columns at different epochs in the Los Angeles Times  and the Wall Street Journal as well as the Village Voice (in its heyday) and the Nation.  ‘Press Clips’ in the Village Voice set new standards for scrutiny of print and broadcast media.  Alexander’s ‘Beat the Devil’ column in the Nation ran for nearly three decades and established him as the most radical, literate, consistent,  uncompromising—and witty—voice of the Left in the United States.  Cockburn was a long-time editor of the London-based New Left Review.  In the 1990s, with Jeffrey St Clair, Alexander founded Counterpunch, the much-consulted political newsletter and website. The response to 9/11 was soon to show the necessity for independent media outlets. At some future date we hope to contribute to an appropriate memorial to ‘Alexander the Brilliant’ - as Edward Said once called him. In the meantime, all our sympathy goes out to his cruelly-bereaved family and friends.

July 21 2012  

There are now obituaries for Alexander Cockburn by Jeffrey St. Clair, Cockburn's long-time friend and colleague, in Counterpunch; Colin Moynihan in the New York Times; Godfrey Hodgson in the Guardian; Corey Robin in Aljazeera and Jacobin; JoAnn Wypijewski in The Nation; Laura Flanders, John Nichols, Robert Pollin, and Peter Rothberg in The Nation; James Ridgeway in Mother Jones; Michael Tomasky in the Daily Beast; Louis Proyect in the Unrepentant Marxist; Matthew Rothschild in the Progressive; Robert Scheer in Truthdig; Dave Lindorff in ThisCantBeHappening!; James Wolcott in Vanity Fair; Doug Henwood in the Left Business Observer; and Phillip Adams on Late Night Live—and there's a blog post from the editors of the London Review of Books. 

In 2007, Alexander Cockburn spoke about his life, career, and writing on C-SPAN's In Depth. Visit C-SPAN to watch the interview in full.