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Edwin Black (born February 27, 1950) is an American historian and author, as well as a syndicated columnist, investigative journalist, and weekly talk show host on The Edwin Black Show. He specializes in human rights, the historical interplay between economics and politics in the Middle East, petroleum policy, academic fraud, corporate criminality and abuse, and the financial underpinnings of Nazi Germany.
Of his own origins, Black has written: "I was born in Chicago, raised in Jewish neighborhoods, and my parents never tried to speak of their experience again." In his book The Transfer Agreement, Black notes that following in the beliefs of his parents, he was from his earliest days a supporter of the State of Israel. As a young man he spent time on a kibbutz, visited Israel on several other occasions, and gave earnest consideration to permanent residency there.
One of Black's first forays into investigative journalism began in 1970 with a commission from The Atlantic. He was tasked with finding out about an alleged plot to assassinate President Kennedy in Chicago on November 2, 1963. For Black it was a long and difficult assignment that finally resulted in his November 1975 article in Chicago Independent magazine. He noted in the article how he became the subject of government harassment. His apartment was broken into and his files "were obviously and clumsily searched." He described his many months of scrutinizing documents, following hundreds of leads, and conducting dozens of interviews. But he wrote that his main source of information was a Secret Service agent on duty at the time of the events in Chicago. Although Black did not name this agent, it is strongly believed to have been Secret Service whistleblower Abraham Bolden.
In 1978, Black interviewed the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented members of the American Nazi Party, which had marched provocatively through the predominantly Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie.Edwin Black, "Introduction to the 1984 Edition," The Transfer Agreement, pg. xxi. In preparing himself for that interview, Black's interest was piqued by the hidden history of relations between the government of Adolf Hitler and German Jews Zionists during the initial years of the Nazi regime. Five years of research followed, ending in the 1984 publication of his first book, .
In the early 1990s, Black served as the editor-in-chief for OS/2 Professional magazine and OS/2 Week, and reported on OS/2 users and technology. Black's books have typically made use of networks of volunteer and professional researchers assembled for each project. Three years before completion of his 2001 book, IBM and the Holocaust, Black began to put together what would ultimately become a team of more than 100 researchers, translators, and assistants to work on discovery and analysis of primary source documents written in German, French, and Polish. In all, more than 20,000 documents from some 50 different libraries, archives, museums, and other collections were assembled and analyzed in the writing of the book.Black, IBM and the Holocaust, pg. 13.
In 2006, Black wrote an article on Iran and the Holocaust, claiming that there was an "Iran-Nazi alliance" during World War Two, that Reza Shah was inspired to rename his country from Persia to Iran by Nazi agents, and that "Iran and its leaders were not only aware of the Holocaust, they played both sides" because Jewish refugees passing through Iran had to pay exorbitant fees. The article was criticized by the Iranian historian Abbas Milani, who instead argued that Iran did not charge any money at all, that Nazi agents had no role in Reza Shah's renaming decision, and that there was no Iran-Nazi alliance.
In the fall of 2012, it was reported that Plan B, the production company owned by actor Brad Pitt, had taken an option on a cinematic adaptation of Black's IBM and the Holocaust. "Brad Pitt to Produce Movie on IBM & the Holocaust," The Jewish Voice, Sept. 19, 2012. Marcus Hinchey, co-writer of the 2010 film All Good Things, was tapped for script-writing responsibilities. Black has written on topics beyond that of 1933–1945 German history, including books on the issue of oil dependence, the history of Iraq, and alternative energy. He is presently a syndicated columnist in publications in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. Black has also occasionally written on the subject of film and television music, contributing opinion pieces and composer interviews to various print and online publications. An aficionado of soundtrack, Black regularly credits specific works which have provided "musical inspiration that propelled the writing" in the introductory notes to each book.See, for example, Edwin Black, Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel. Washington, DC: Dialog Press, 2013; pg. xxiii, in which he credits specific works by Hans Zimmer, Anthony Gonzalez, and Jerry Goldsmith.
In 2010, in his book The Farhud, Black resurrected the "Forgotten Pogrom", the bloody June 1–2, 1941, pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad, known as the Farhud, sometimes called the Iraqi Kristallnacht. In 2015, Black founded the annual commemoration, International Farhud Day, which he proclaimed at the United Nations in a live globally-streamed event in 2015. The remembrance has been recognized and observed in many countries and in 2021, it was reported in the media that 10,000 people in numerous countries lit candles. He originated the Yom HaGirush commemoration, November 30, commemorating the expulsion of 850,000 Jews from Arab countries after the State of Israel was declared its independence, in a broadcast of the Edwin Black Show in 2021.
Black has coined or popularized certain words and terms. These include: "petropolitical" in lectures during the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo; "digital ghetto" and/or "algorithm ghetto" in 2001 during lectures on the book IBM and the Holocaust, and again at the 2018 Michigan Holocaust Day Commemoration.
Black has written an article critical of Wikipedia, "Wikipedia—The Dumbing Down of World Knowledge". Wikipedia—The Dumbing Down of World Knowledge, by Edwin Black.
In November and December 2014, Black went on a 45-event "Human Rights Tour". In North Carolina, Black reportedly appeared nine times in three days speaking out against the persecution of Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and Christians in Iraq, racial injustice in the United States, and its impact on the November elections, as well as environmental injustice arising out of oil addiction, journalistic ethics in covering human rights, bias against Jews in Israel, and a health care crisis in the Middle East.Monreal, "Best-selling Author Remains a Road Warrior for Human Rights." See also: Mariana Barillas, "Noted Author Edwin Black Schools Students on the Roots of Racism," Spero News, December 9, 2014; and David Bloom, "Award-winning journalist talks about Ferguson, the Middle East," Hometown Life.com, December 21, 2014.
From May 31 to June 3, 2016, Black embarked upon a 100-hour, four-city, three-country commemoration book tour to observe International Farhud Day on the 75th anniversary of the Farhud. Black originated International Farhud Day the year before. The tour began on May 31 in the morning in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., then shifted to the Edmond J. Safra Congregation in New York the evening that same day. On June 2, he led the book and commemoration ceremony in London with the Israeli Embassy at the Lauderdale Rd Synagogue. On June 3, he arrived in Israel for a series of Farhud book and commemoration events that ended with a ceremony in the Knesset.
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