Angus Cameron (1) (1908–2002)

[excerpted from The Guardian obituary]
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, of Scottish descent, he discovered Karl Marx while studying at DePauw University, and graduated with honours in history and political science in 1930. Like many of his generation, he took an active interest in radical solutions to the depression. A self-described "non-joiner", he went to meetings - but did not join - the John Reed Club, a US Communist party-backed cultural organisation.

He was a salesman for a soft drink and candy company before joining the Indiana publisher Bobbs-Merrill, first, in the sales department and, later, as an editor, where he had a role in the huge success of Irma S. Rombauer's The Joy Of Cooking, which, first published in 1936, became the standard American cookery book. He joined Little, Brown in New York in 1938, and, by 1943, was editor-in-chief.

Cold-war liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger campaigned against Cameron, publicly listing his sponsorship of organisations close to the US Communist party, and writing to the firm's proprietor. The publisher was also attacked by several congressional committees. The charges were inaccurate and irresponsible - but, along with his uncompromising radicalism, forced him out.

In 1953, Angus launched a small publishing house, Cameron Associates, offering books primarily by blacklisted writers on unpopular subjects. These included two on the Rosenberg espionage case, a history of American trade unionism that still sells well to shop stewards, JD Bernal's Science In History, and, most famously, Harvey Matusow's False Witness.

Cameron's reputation as a publisher was restored after 1959, when Alfred Knopf ended his blacklisting by offering him a job as a senior editor. Now, he published books on the American west, and the work of historians, including Martin Sherwin's influential A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and the Origins of the Arms Race (1976). Though not the book's editor, Cameron's editorial report on Julia Child's Mastering The Art Of French Cooking (1961) tipped the balance in favour of publication, and laid out the strategy that would make it a cookery classic. Especially in his later years at Knopf, Cameron became the mentor to a new generation of editors. He also wrote The Nightwatchers (1972), drawing on his fascination with owls, and co-wrote The LL Bean Game And Fish Cookbook (1983).