Angus Cameron (publisher)

Angus Cameron
Born
Donald Angus Cameron

(1908-12-25)December 25, 1908
DiedNovember 18, 2002(2002-11-18) (aged 93)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materDePauw University
Employer(s)Bobbs-Merrill, Little, Brown, Cameron & Associates, Knopf
Known forDiscovering J.D. Salinger, publishing Harvey Matusow
Notable workPublishing of The Joy of Cooking , Catcher in the Rye, False Witness
SpouseSheila K Cameron
Children2

Donald Angus Cameron (December 25, 1908 – November 18, 2002), publicly known by his middle name, was an American book editor and publisher. Cameron scored his first success handling The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer for Indianapolis publisher Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1936. He moved to Little, Brown and Company in 1938.

While editor at Little, Brown, Cameron was responsible for the promotion of then-unknown writer J. D. Salinger, controversial poet Ogden Nash, and various left wing authors including Lillian Hellman, Howard Fast, and Carey McWilliams. In 1947 the politically radical Cameron became a public target of red-baiting led by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. over Little, Brown's refusal to publish Animal Farm by George Orwell. He was ultimately forced out at Little, Brown in 1951 over controversy surrounding the proposed publication of Communist author Howard Fast's novel Spartacus.

Following his departure from Little, Brown, Cameron found himself blacklisted from the mainstream publishing industry due to the pervasive climate of McCarthyism. In 1953 Cameron formed his own left wing publishing house, Cameron Associates, later joining forces with radical publisher Albert E. Kahn to launch the publishing house Cameron and Kahn. The blacklisting of Cameron ended only in 1959 when New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf hired him as a senior editor.