Adam C. Begley[1] (born 1959 in
Boston, Massachusetts) is an American biographer. He was the books editor for The New York Observer from 1996 to 2009.[2]
Begley is the son of Sally (Higginson) and novelist
Louis Begley. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1982, and from
Stanford University with a Ph.D. in English and American literature in 1989.
His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian,[3]The Times Literary Supplement,[4]The Spectator,[5] and The Atlantic.[6]
He lives with his wife, Anne Cotton, in
Great Gidding,
Cambridgeshire. His stepdaughter is the novelist and art critic, Chloë Ashby.
He is the author of biographies of
John Updike[7] and the 19th-century French photographer
Nadar. His biography of Houdini appeared in the Yale Jewish Lives series. He is a frequent contributor to the Paris Review's Art of Fiction series.
He is currently at work on a book about Harvard College.[8]
Certitude: A Profusely Illustrated Guide to Blockheads and Bullheads, Past and Present, Adam Begley, Christopher Hitchens, Illustrator Edward Sorel, HARMONY, 2009,
ISBN978-0-307-40804-4