ROGOFF, HARRY

ROGOFF, HARRY (Hillel; 1883–1971), U.S. Yiddish journalist and editor. Born in Berezino, Belorussia, Rogoff immigrated to New York at the age of ten with his parents. In 1906 he became a reporter for the Forverts, and except for short absences, remained on its staff (as editor after the death of abraham cahan ) until his retirement in 1962. In his journalism and editorial writing, he interpreted and commented on political events and sociological trends in the U.S. His major books, Civics: Vi Azoy Amerike Vert Regirt ("Civics: How America Is Governed," 1918), and the highly regarded, five-volume Geshikhte fun di Fareynigte Shtatn ("History of the United States," 1928), helped to familiarize his largely immigrant readership with their adopted country. Rogoff wrote abundant literary criticism; a short-lived literary magazine, East and West, which he edited in 1915–16 was one of the earliest attempts at introducing Yiddish literature to American readers. His English publications, signed Harry Rogoff, include An East Side Epic: The Life and Work of Meyer London (1930), later rewritten in Yiddish, and Nine Yiddish Writers (1931), a collection of critical essays. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rejzen, Leksikon, 4 (1929), 58–60; E.H. Jeshurin, Harry Rogoff Bibliography (1958). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: LNYL, 8 (1981), 303–4; A. Cahan, Bleter fun Mayn Lebn, 4 (1928), 466. (Ruth Wisse)