The Editor

How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America

De: Sara B. Franklin

Narrado por: Eunice Wong

Legendary editor Judith Jones, the woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century—including Julia Child, Anne Frank, Edna Lewis, John Updike, and Sylvia Plath—finally gets her due in this “surprising, granular, luminous, and path-breaking biography” (Edward Hirsch, author of How to Read a Poem).

At Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones spent most of her time wading through manuscripts in the slush pile and passing on projects—until one day, a book caught her eye. She read it in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing.

During her more than fifty years as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf, Jones nurtured the careers of literary icons such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Tyler, and John Updike, and helped launched new genres and trends in literature. At the forefront of the cookbook revolution, she published the who’s who of food writing: Edna Lewis, M.F.K. Fisher, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, James Beard, and, most famously, Julia Child. Through her tenacious work behind the scenes, Jones helped turn these authors into household names, changing cultural mores and expectations along the way.

Judith’s work spanned decades of America’s most dramatic cultural change—from the end of World War II through the civil rights movement and the fight for women’s equality—and the books she published acted as tools of quiet resistance. Now, based on exclusive interviews, never-before-seen personal papers, and years of research, her astonishing career is explored for the first time in this “thorough and humanizing portrait” (Kirkus Reviews).

©2024 Sara B. Franklin (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Excellent

Liked it all recipes and stories. A lesson in history and cooking A by wonderful read

An Amazing Life

Look, I’m not gonna pretend as if this person was a saint or a miracle worker or without flaws. Of course, this is a biography written by someone who was impressed by her as I was when I started to hear about her through other works of fiction and nonfiction.

What struck me about Judith Bailey Jones is that she was a wonderful and amazing person and very much a flawed human being.

She had her own way of dealing with people and getting out of them the best that she could, and I am sure most of the authors that worked under her and with her benefited from her help and guidance, however, gentle and however, leading from behind.

I have read some of the other of this book that cast her in a less flattering light, but wouldn’t we all suffer from the harsh light of Inquisition? I am glad that I read this book and I am glad to know all the peoples lives that she touched and all the joy that she took in life. I hope you enjoy reading it too.

Captivating and a wonderful lesson on a career in publishing.

I couldn’t begin to keep up with all the names of important people but I totally liked the total story.

How interesting her life was

It is a real story. Inside look at publishing. Remarkable life. So happy that I found this book

Absolutely Fascinating

This is a really fascinating book. An insight into a person who had great impact on publishing in the 20th century.

Gorgeous writing, perfect reader

This book made me wanna walk barefoot in the grass, tear into a great piece of bread, and boldly speak my mind. Sara deftly handles the class, race, & gender norms of the era that so many books on the period leave out.

Plus, The reader was fantastic I’ll definitely look for more work of hers.

Excellent book

An amazing biography of a woman with a full life well-lived. Her travels, loves, marriage, as well as her incredible career are all part of this journey. Cookbooks, novelists and poetry are discussed as Judith was involved with all of these areas (not just cooking - I think the one reviewer did not read the entire book). She was foster parent to her husband's cousin's children, taking on the challenges of two teenagers. Quite a life!

Don't like Judith or this book

She was.
A terrible mother and didn't give the kids food until 8 PM.After making gourmet food and if they didn't like it, she didn't allow them to discuss it.And even though her son didn't eat onions she kept making them. She was a workaholic. She criticized.
The book and movie julie and julia and I loved the book and movie. She wrote some of her own books and they were not successful. And this book focuses on her editing food books.But she did many more so didn't like the focus of this book.And I want to learn what it's like to be an editor and there wasn't enough of that. I am an editor.

Interesting life

I think parts of this book could’ve been edited! My main gripe was the reader’s pronunciation of French… otherwise she was a good reader.