Joshua Prager (writer)

Joshua Harris Prager was born in a Jewish family in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Prager is the son of Columbia University physician and medical ethics expert Kenneth Prager, and the nephew of commentator Dennis Prager.[1] He attended the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, the Ramaz High School in Manhattan,[2] and Columbia College, where he studied music theory, graduating in 1994.[3][4]

In May 1990, Prager was paralyzed in a road accident in Israel when a truck driver rammed into the minibus in which he was riding.[5] He is now married and has two daughters.

Prager often writes of historical secrets. He found the reclusive heir of Margaret Wise Brown, author of the classic children's book Goodnight Moon.[6] He confirmed the decades-long rumor that the New York Giants had stolen signs en route to the 1951 pennant.[7] He revealed that baseball pitcher Ralph Branca (pitcher in the aforementioned baseball game) was born to a Jewish mother.[8] He named the only anonymous winner in the history of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Iranian photographer Jahangir Razmi.[9] He revealed the suicides of the parents of Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg.[10] He identified the anonymous patron in the famous book Joe Gould's Secret.[11] He identified Shelley Lynn Thornton as the unknown child of the plaintiff Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey), whose conception in 1969 led to the landmark case Roe v. Wade.[12][13] He revealed the unknown story of law professor Warren Seavey who admitted to Harvard Law School World War II veterans who didn’t apply to the school or had questionable credentials.[14]

Prager has written for publications including Vanity Fair,[15][16] The New York Times,[8] and The Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years.[17] His first book, The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, is about the Shot Heard 'Round the World, which occurred during a famous 1951 baseball playoff game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.

His second book, Half Life: Reflections from Jerusalem on a Broken Neck is about the road accident in Israel that left him paralyzed.[18] He describes his rehabilitation and recovery from the accident; how he tracked down his fellow passengers and the widow of the bus driver who was killed in the accident; and his meeting with the truck driver, who rambled on about his own suffering and expressed no remorse for his actions.[19]

In 2016, Prager published 100 Years: Wisdom From Famous Writers on Every Year of Your Life, a book of quotations designed by Milton Glaser.[20]

Prager's fourth book, The Family Roe: An American Story, was published in 2021. It tells the story of Roe v. Wade and its plaintiff, Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey).[21] The book was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction,[22] as well as the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.[23]

Prager has lectured at venues including TED and Google,[17][24] and has received fellowships from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism[25] as well as the Fulbright Program.[26]

• Prager, Joshua (2021). The Family Roe: An American Story. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-24772-5.

• Official website