Dawn Eden Goldstein

Dawn Eden (born September 3, 1968) is an American author, headline writer, popular music historian, freelance writer, and social and religious commentator. She is the author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On (W Publishing Group/Thomas Nelson).

Biography

Eden, whose full name is Dawn Eden Goldstein, was born into a Reform Jewish household. She began writing about independent-label rock music under the abbreviated name Dawn Eden in 1985 for fanzines such as Jersey Beat and the Bob, eventually becoming a popular-music historian, writing for Mojo, Salon, New York Press, Billboard, among other magazines. Eden has co-authored The Encyclopedia of Singles and contributed to other books, including Mojo's The Beatles: 10 Years That Shook the World, and Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics.

She has also penned liner notes for eighty CD reissues; and had released one recording of her own, a cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" on the Stiff Records tribute album, The Stiff Generation. Artists she interviewed for liner notes, magazine articles or radio include Harry Nilsson (his last interview, for Goldmine (magazine) and liner notes to the Personal Best collection), Brian Wilson (twice, for The Bob fanzine and MJI Broadcasting), Del Shannon, and Lesley Gore.

In October 1999, Eden, who was by then an agnostic, had what she describes in The Thrill of the Chaste as a “born-again experience” that transformed her into a “committed Christian.” During the ensuing few years, she gradually left the world of rock journalism. Her last major music-business job was directing the publicity for the World Trade Center’s oldies concert series during the summer of 2001.

In February 2005, Eden was the subject of a feature by George Gurley in the New York Observer, "Eden in Exile." The article detailed the circumstances surrounding her January 2005 firing from the New York Post, where she was a copy editor. The firing was precipitated by her making unauthorized changes to an article about women with cervical cancer who had children through in vitro fertilization: She removed a reference to IVF "miracle babies"; she noted that since two out of three implanted embryos "took," "one died,” and she added that the process of in vitro fertilization "routinely results in the destruction of embryos."

Eden asserted in the Observer article and in her Wall Street Journal review of the book Fired! that, prior to her firing, she was warned against identifying herself as a Post employee when giving interviews in which she discussed her Christian faith. In the Observer, she said that Post copy chief Barry Gross told her, "Some people already think the Post is conservative, and we don’t need New York readers also thinking it’s a Christian paper and that there are Christians working there."

When asked by Gurley for comment, Gross said, "I don’t recall saying that. But I can’t swear that I didn’t. I mean, there’s no question people think we’re conservative." Gurley writes, "He added that he did caution her to cool it a bit in the future."

In April 2005, Dawn Eden was hired by the New York Daily News, where she is the deputy news editor for regional editions. Eden has also written about political and cultural topics for The Wall Street Journal and National Review Online.

On her blog The Dawn Patrol, she frequently critiques the organization Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations from a pro-life standpoint, as well as exploring topics related to her religious faith (she was received into the Catholic Church in 2006) and her personal interests.

External links

• Jewish Convert Journalist Was Helped Along by Chesterton, National Catholic Register
• Dawn Eden's Online Headquarters - Gaits of Eden
• Dawn Eden's blog - The Dawn Patrol
• Thrill of the Chaste - Dawn Eden's new book