Jonathan Brent (born 1949) is an American academic, author, historian and publisher. As a publisher, he is the director of theAnnals of Communism series, which he founded in 1992.^[1] He is currently the CEO and executive director of theYIVO Institute for Jewish Research,^[2] as well as VisitingAlger Hiss Professor of History and Literature atBard College.^[3]

Jonathan Brent was born on December 2, 1949, to bookstore-owning parents Stuart and Jeanette Brent, a pianist; Jeanette died in 1954. He received aB.A. fromColumbia University, and anM.A. andPh.D. in English literature from theUniversity of Chicago.^[1][3] He is a writer, publisher, and teacher who has lectured around the world on subjects of Soviet and modern Jewish history. His books have been translated into multiple languages.

From 1981-1991, Brent was editor-in-chief and director of the Northwestern University Press, where he established the series in East European and Russian literature. He served as editorial director and associate director of theYale University Press from 1991-2009.^[2] In 1981, Brent founded the literary magazineFormations,^[1][3] which specialized in East European writing and thought.

He has taught courses in history and literature as the visitingAlger Hiss Professor of History and Literature atBard College since 2004.^[3] In 2009, theYIVO Institute for Jewish Research named him its executive director and CEO.^[2] In 2014, with the cooperation of the government of the Republic of Lithuania Brent established the landmark Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project at The YIVO Institute to preserve and digitize approximately 2.5 million documents and 12,200 books representing 500 years of Jewish history in Eastern Europe and Russia.^[4] In 2019, Brent received the Cross of the Knight of the Order of Merits to Lithuania for the "promotion of cooperation between Lithuania and YIVO and for the preservation of pre-War Jewish archives in Lithuania (United States of America)."

• The History of the Yiddish Language^[2]
• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe^[2]
• The New Yiddish Library^[2]
• The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization^[2]
• The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania, by Herman Kruk^[2]

• Stalin's Last Crime^[1]
• Inside the Stalin Archives^[1] plusBook Interview at thePritzker Military Museum & Library on November 12, 2008

• Bard College: Jonathan Brent
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1949 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American publishers (people)
• Bard College faculty
• Jewish American historians
• 21st-century American historians
• 21st-century American male writers
• American male non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American Jews

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox person with multiple employers
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• People appearing on C-SPAN