Fourteen years after his death, J.D. Salinger remains the same fascinating enigma he was during his lifetime, known for his reclusiveness almost as much as he was for writing The Catcher in the Rye—which was published in 1951 and still sells 200,000 copies a year. Many have tried to analyze the best-selling novelist, but few have done so with such care and insight as Stephen B. Shepard, who deftly places Salinger’s experiences in the context of his writing: from landing on Normandy on D-day to his obsession with Catherine Oxenberg (of the original 1980s Dynasty), to his embrace of Eastern religions. While practicing Vedanta—a mystical form of Hinduism which preaches against acts of personal ego—Salinger stopped publishing, but thankfully he did not stop writing. Until Matt Salinger decides to release his father’s later work, Salinger’s Soul is the perfect read for anyone who wishes to better understand the man who gave us Holden Caulfield.

Stephen B. Shepard is the Founding Dean Emeritus of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He served as a senior editor at Newsweek, the editor of Saturday Review, and editor-in-chief of Business Week. From 1992 to 1994, he was president of the American Society of Magazine Editors. Before teaching at CUNY, Shepard was a faculty member at the Columbia Journalism School, where he was co-founder and first director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowships, a mid-career program for working journalists.

 His book about journalism, Deadlines and Disruption: My Turbulent Path from Print to Digital, was published in 2012. His second book, published in 2018, is A Literary Journey to Jewish Identity: Re-Reading, Bellow, Roth, Malamud, Ozick, and Other Great Jewish Writers.  And his most recent book is Second Thoughts, a series of essays published in 2021.

A native New Yorker, Shepard graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, then received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York and his master’s degree from Columbia University. He is married to Lynn Povich, author of The Good Girls Revolt, published in 2012. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Stephen B. Shepard