Henry Geiger

Henry Geiger (August 10, 1908 – 15 February 1989) was the editor, publisher, and chief writer of MANAS Journal which was published from 1948–1988.

He “had been variously a chorus boy on Broadway, a journalist, a conscientious objector in World War II, a commercial printer, and a lecturer at The United Lodge of Theosophists in Los Angeles.”[1] Geiger began work as an actor when he was sixteen and spent three years working with the Theater Guild before becoming a journalist.[2] While working as an actor, he had a small role in the original production of The Garrick Gaieties in 1925.[3] During World War II, Geiger was a conscientious objector and was a member of the Civilian Public Service program. He worked at the CO Camp 76 at Glendora, where he helped found the pacifist newspaper Pacifica Views.[4] The four-page weekly provided pacifists with "a forum for discussing pacifist ideas and methods of applying non-violent action to social reform".[5]

Geiger published the first issue of his journal Manas in January 1948, while he living in Los Angeles.[6] Abraham Maslow called him “the only small ‘p’ philosopher America has produced in this century.”[1] Geiger was also an advocate of Edward Bellamy's type of socialism.[7] Some of Geiger's associates, such as Lewis Hill, would later be involved in the creation of Pacifica Radio.[7]

  1. ^ a b Grossman, Richard (May 1989). "A Man and His 'Paper,'". Utne Reader.
  2. ^ Geiger, Henry (December 1943). "Test of Democracy". Motive. 4: 16.
  3. ^ Rodgers, Richard (1968). Fact Book with Supplement. New York: The Lynn Farnol Group. p. 23.
  4. ^ Doyle, Michael (2012). Radical Chapters: Pacifist Bookseller Roy Kepler and the Paperback Revolution. Syracuse University Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780815650836.
  5. ^ Bennett, Scott H. (2003). Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963. Syracuse University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780815630036.
  6. ^ Land, Jeff (1999). Active Radio: Pacifica's Brash Experiment. University of Minnesota Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780816631575.
  7. ^ a b Lasar, Matthew (April 14, 2000). Pacifica Radio 2E. Temple University Press. pp. 30–31. ISBN 1-56639-777-4.