Emerson, Ken 1948-

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EMERSON, Ken 1948-

PERSONAL: Born October 29, 1948, in Huntington, WV; son of Robert K. (an attorney) and Roberta Esther (a museum director; maiden name, Shinn) Emerson; married Ellen Ketchum O'Meara (a teacher), June 27, 1981; children: Maude. Education: Attended Groton School, Harvard University, Yale University, and Rutgers University.

ADDRESSES: Home—140 Bellevue Ave., Montclair, NJ 07043. Agent—Gloria Loomis, Watkins Loomis Agency, 133 East 35th St., Suite 1, New York, NY 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Boston Phoenix, Boston, MA, writer and editor, 1968-77; New York Times Magazine, New York, NY, articles editor, 1980-89; New York Newsday, New York, NY, "op-ed" editor, 1990-95.

AWARDS, HONORS: Anschutz Distinguished Fellowship in American Studies, Princeton University, 1998-99; Writers Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding script for a documentary other than current events, 2001, for "Stephen Foster."

WRITINGS:

Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

(With others) "Stephen Foster" (television special), The American Experience, Public Broadcasting Service, 2001.

(Editor, with others) Rethinking the Urban Agenda: Reinvigorating the Liberal Tradition in New York City and Urban America, Century Foundation Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Contributor to periodicals, including Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Nation, New Republic, and Sports Illustrated.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A history of popular songwriting in New York City, 1957-68, for Viking.

SIDELIGHTS: Ken Emerson delves into the life of one of the most influential songwriters in American history in his 1997 book Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. Foster wrote about 200 songs, including "Oh! Susannah," "Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee River"), "Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," "Beautiful Dreamer," and "Old Black Joe." As Emerson reveals, Foster also wrote songs for minstrel shows that featured white performers in blackface and skits about slavery. Emerson also recounts that Foster often sold the rights to his songs for very little money, and died an alcoholic, in poverty, at the age of thirty-seven. Yet Foster's songs remain popular, and Emerson describes their influence on the development of an American music that incorporates qualities of both European and African-American music.

Commentators noted Emerson's thorough research when reviewing Doo-Dah! A Publishers Weekly contributor called Emerson's studies "exhaustive" and observed that his findings have "been meticulously worked into a vivid portrait of nineteenth-century America." Writing in Library Journal, Michael Colby noted that Doo-Dah! "goes a long way towards dispelling the myths that have surrounded the composer." However, David Thigpen, writing in Chicago Tribune Books, maintained that the exhaustive approach has a downside, noting that "to dig deeply into Foster's life is to scrape away much of the magic of his magnificent songs." According to Thigpen, Foster's pro-slavery sympathies should be understood within the climate of his times: "Even as we are made aware of the many skeletons rattling around in Foster's closets, Emerson places him in a historical context that makes his life and art compelling."