Doron Ben-Atar
Encyclopedia
Doron Ben-Atar is an Israel
i-born American
historian and playwright. He is head of the History Department at Fordham University
in New York
.
, Israel
. His father, Arye Ben-Atar, immigrated to Palestine
from Turkey in 1936. He was a basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv. His mother was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. In 2006, Ben-Atar wrote a play based on his mother's experiences, Behave Yourself Quietly. In the 1970s, Ben-Atar, who is two meters tall, followed in his father's footsteps and began to play basketball. He studied at Tichon Hadash high school in Tel Aviv
and joined Peace Now, taking part in left-wing demonstrations. In 1988, he worked for Israel's Meretz party. He went to the United States to study American history at Brandeis University
and completed his doctorate at Columbia University
in 1990. He taught at Yale University
before moving to Fordham University.
Ben-Atar is married to an American Jew and has three children. His oldest son, Assaf Ben-Atar, also a Brandeis graduate, currently attends Fordham University Law School and is an Associate Editor for the Intellectual Property, Media, and Entertainment Law Journal. Prior to enrolling in law school, Assaf was a prominent high school tennis player, and child actor in Yale University Theatre productions. Unfortunately, Assaf suffered a debilitating knee injury his senior year, ending his promising tennis career. After abandoning the game he loved, Assaf became a passionate supporter for student rights at Brandeis University, opposing the University's cancellation of the annual Modfest festivities. Additionally, Assaf received praise in the Brandeis school newspaper for his heroic efforts when, as a bystander, he utilized prior EMT training at the scene of an automobile accident.
piracy, "where he has "rocked the current patent debate by saying that piracy is not only inevitable, it may even be beneficial." He claims U.S. economic development was founded on the illegal misappropriation of intellectual property.
Business World India calls him "a genial giant from the world of academia" who has undermined conventional arguments in the hotly debated question of who owns intellectual
property by looking at the issue through the prism of the past. Ben-Atar maintains that "it is impossible to contain the abuse of technology without undermining the free flow of knowledge that is the prerequisite for innovation." Christine MacLeod of Bristol University wrote "Doron S. Ben-Atar wears his heart on his sleeve. It's a good heart, but historically the wrong sleeve."
His work on intellectual policy builds on his earlier work on Thomas Jefferson
. He criticized Jefferson for vacillating between viewing commerce as a threat to republican virtue and recognizing the necessity of promoting prosperity. As a result, Jefferson "failed to recognize America's larger stake in defeating Napoleonic France."
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian and playwright. He is head of the History Department at Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Biography
Doron Ben-Atar was born in Kfar ShmaryahuKfar Shmaryahu
Kfar Shmaryahu is a local council in Israel, within the Tel Aviv District. The council was founded in 1937, during the Fifth Aliyah to Israel.Kfar Shmaryahu is ranked very highly on the Israeli socio-economic scale...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. His father, Arye Ben-Atar, immigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
from Turkey in 1936. He was a basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv. His mother was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. In 2006, Ben-Atar wrote a play based on his mother's experiences, Behave Yourself Quietly. In the 1970s, Ben-Atar, who is two meters tall, followed in his father's footsteps and began to play basketball. He studied at Tichon Hadash high school in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
and joined Peace Now, taking part in left-wing demonstrations. In 1988, he worked for Israel's Meretz party. He went to the United States to study American history at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
and completed his doctorate at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1990. He taught at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
before moving to Fordham University.
Ben-Atar is married to an American Jew and has three children. His oldest son, Assaf Ben-Atar, also a Brandeis graduate, currently attends Fordham University Law School and is an Associate Editor for the Intellectual Property, Media, and Entertainment Law Journal. Prior to enrolling in law school, Assaf was a prominent high school tennis player, and child actor in Yale University Theatre productions. Unfortunately, Assaf suffered a debilitating knee injury his senior year, ending his promising tennis career. After abandoning the game he loved, Assaf became a passionate supporter for student rights at Brandeis University, opposing the University's cancellation of the annual Modfest festivities. Additionally, Assaf received praise in the Brandeis school newspaper for his heroic efforts when, as a bystander, he utilized prior EMT training at the scene of an automobile accident.
Academic career
Ben-Atar is a noted expert on intellectual propertyIntellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
piracy, "where he has "rocked the current patent debate by saying that piracy is not only inevitable, it may even be beneficial." He claims U.S. economic development was founded on the illegal misappropriation of intellectual property.
Business World India calls him "a genial giant from the world of academia" who has undermined conventional arguments in the hotly debated question of who owns intellectual
property by looking at the issue through the prism of the past. Ben-Atar maintains that "it is impossible to contain the abuse of technology without undermining the free flow of knowledge that is the prerequisite for innovation." Christine MacLeod of Bristol University wrote "Doron S. Ben-Atar wears his heart on his sleeve. It's a good heart, but historically the wrong sleeve."
His work on intellectual policy builds on his earlier work on Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. He criticized Jefferson for vacillating between viewing commerce as a threat to republican virtue and recognizing the necessity of promoting prosperity. As a result, Jefferson "failed to recognize America's larger stake in defeating Napoleonic France."
Playwrighting career
After Behave Yourself Quietly, Atar wrote Peace Warriors about the demonization of Israel in the academic world. He says that writing plays is a way of grappling with the issue of Jewish identity and its significance in the 21st century.Books
- Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power (Yale University Press, 2004)
- What Time and Sadness Spared: Mother and Son Confront the Holocaust together with Roma Nutkiewicz Ben-Atar (University of Virginia Press, 2006)
- The Origins of Jeffersonian Commercial Policy and Diplomacy (Macmillan, 1993)
- Federalists Reconsidered, co-edited with Barbara B. Oberg (University Press of Virginia, 1998)
Selected articles
- "Pirates of the Potomac," Legal Affairs (2004)
- "Pride, Ambition and Resentment: The American Revolution Revisited," for the Oxford History of the British Empire (2000)
- "The Jewish American Question," Journal of Urban History (1999)
- "Nationalism, Neo-Mercantilism, and Diplomacy: Rethinking the Franklin Mission," Diplomatic History (1998).