Thomas Boss Congdon Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1931-03-17)March 17, 1931 |
| Died | December 23, 2008(2008-12-23) (aged 77) |
| Occupation(s) | Editor and publisher |
| Years active | 1956-1994 |
Thomas Boss Congdon Jr. (March 17, 1931 – December 23, 2008) was an Americanbook editor who worked onRussell Baker's memoirGrowing Up,Peter Benchley's bestselling novelJaws, andDavid Halberstam's 1986 workThe Reckoning, as well as the infamousMichelle Remembers, an unreliable account of child abuse that contributed to theSatanic panic. He ultimately establishing his own publishing house.
Congdon was born on March 17, 1931, inNew London, Connecticut. He Graduated fromYale College in 1953.[1] He dropped out of Yale during his sophomore year to work on a gold mine inFairbanks, Alaska.[2] While at Yale, he completed theNaval Reserve Officers Training Corps program and upon graduation, he was commissioned an ensign in theUnited States Navy Reserves.[3] While in the Navy, he served on the battleshipsUSS Iowa (BB-61) andUSS Wisconsin (BB-64). He attendedColumbia University, where he studied journalism.[1]
Congdon became an editor atThe Saturday Evening Post, where he worked for 12 years. In 1968, he took his first position in book publishing atHarper & Row, and was hired byDoubleday in 1971.[2][4]
At Doubleday, Congdon had read a number of articles written byPeter Benchley and invited Benchley to lunch to discuss some ideas for books. Benchley wanted to write a non-fiction book about pirates, but Congdon wasn't interested.[2] Congdon asked if he had any ideas for fiction, and Benchley respond with his idea of a novel about a great white shark terrorizing a beach resort. Congdon offered Benchley an advance of $1,000, leading to the novelist submitting the first 100 pages.[2][5] After extensive rewriting based on Congdon's guidance,Jaws was published in 1974 and stayed on the bestseller list for some 44 weeks.
In April 1974, Congdon was named as editor in chief of adult trade books atE. P. Dutton.[6]
He worked with authorA. Scott Berg, who was writing a book aboutMaxwell Perkins. Congdon reviewed Berg's original manuscripts, which had been written in the varying styles of several notable authors, and finally circled a paragraph that he felt captured what he was looking for, saying "You know who this sounds like? Nobody. Write the whole book like this. That's your voice." The published book,Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius, won the 1980National Book Award.[1]
Russell Baker, who had been a columnist forThe New York Times worked with Congdon on his best-selling memoirGrowing Up, which Baker said would never have been written without Congdon's assistance. Baker said that "After a lot of wine, I’d start talking about my uncles; I had a lot of uncles. And Tom said, 'This really ought to be a book.'" Baker wrote a draft, which Congdon rejected as "a piece of reporting", insisting that Baker rewrite the stories and the characters as they were when they were young. Baker recounted that "I threw the whole thing away and started over. A lot of the success of that book is due to him."[1]
In 1979, Congdon left E. P. Dutton to partner up with French publisherJean-Claude Lattès.[7] During that period, he publishedMichelle Remembers. Written by psychiatristLawrence Pazder, the book is widely considered as an unreliable story of ritual abuse story that contributed to the satanic panic of the 1980s.[8][9][10] Congdon & Lattès (later known as Congdon & Weed) went bankrupt in 1985. Congdon edited books for other publishers, editingDavid Halberstam'sThe Reckoning published in 1986 byWilliam Morrow and Company.[1]
In 1994, Congdon's non-fiction bookHaving Babies was published by Simon & Schuster, described byKirkus Reviews as "A look at pregnancy and childbirth as they are experienced by patients of an obstetrical practice in a wealthy New Jersey town."[11]
He died at age 77 on December 23, 2008, at his home inNantucket, Massachusetts, due tocongestive heart failure andParkinson's disease.[1]