Angus
Cameron was born in Indianapolis on 25th December, 1908. He was converted
to socialism while studying at DePauw
University where he graduated with honours in history and political
science in 1930.
After
leaving university he joined the Indiana publisher Bobbs-Merrill.
As editor he enjoyed great success with the publication of Irma Rombauer's
The Joy of Cooking. Cameron moved
to Little, Brown in New York in 1938
and five years later was appointed editor-in-chief. His authors included
Lillian
Hellman and
Howard
Fast.
Cameron
was an early victim of McCarthyism
and
in 1947 was accused by Arthur Schlesinger of
being a supporter of several organizations close to the American
Communist Party. Soon afterwards the right-wing magazine Counterattack
claimed that 31 of Cameron's authors were "fellow-travellers".
Cameron was forced to resign and lived for a while in the Adirondack
mountains.
In
1953 Cameron established a small publishing house, Cameron Associates.
Over the next six years Cameron published several left-wing books
including Science in History by
John
Bernal
and two books on Julius
Rosenberg and
Ethel
Rosenberg.
Cameron
published several blacklisted writers but his most controversial book
was False Witness by Harvey
Matusow. A former member of the American
Communist Party, Matusow had testified before several congressional
committees giving the names of former party members. In False
Witness Matusow claimed he had been paid to lie about former
party members. As a result of this confession he was found guilty
of perjury and jailed for nearly three years.
In
1959 the publisher Alfred Knopf ended Cameron's blacklisting by employing
him as a senior editor. He also wrote two books, The
Nightwatchers (1972) and The Game
and Fish Cookbook (1983). Angus Cameron died on 18th November,
2002.
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