born March 24, 1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died Dec. 19, 1982, New York City
U.S. writer and film critic.
He graduated from Yale University. During World War II he founded the magazine Politics , which featured the work of such figures as André Gide , Albert Camus , and Marianne Moore . One of the first serious film critics, he was a staff writer for The New Yorker (1951–71) and reviewed films for Esquire magazine (1960–66). Politically, he moved from Stalinism through Trotskyism and anarchism to pacifism. During the Vietnam War he urged young men to defy the draft. His best-known collection of essays is Against the American Grain (1963).