Robby Soave

American author, host and journalist

Carrie Strasz

(m. 2014)

Robert Emil Soave Jr. (/swɑːveɪ/, SWAH-vay)^[1] is a libertarian American journalist. Soave is a senior editor for Reason and co-host of The Hill's web news commentary series program Rising.^[2]^[3]

Early life and education

Soave was born in and grew up in the Indian Village district of Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan.

Career

In 2015, he won a Southern California Journalism Award from the Los Angeles Press Club for his writing about the Rolling Stone story "A Rape on Campus".^[4]^[5] He was named in Forbes' "30 under 30" list in 2016.^[5] In 2019, he gained media attention for his writings defending the Covington Catholic High School students involved in the Lincoln Memorial confrontation.^[6]^[7]^[8]

In Soave's first book, Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump, he profiles young progressive activists as well as those on the political right, and discusses issues such as intersectionality, political correctness, and free speech on college campuses.^[9]^[3]^[10] Writing in The Guardian, reviewer J. Oliver Conroy called Panic Attack "a methodical, earnest and often insightful work of reporting and analysis, not a fiery polemic."^[11]

In his second book, Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future, Soave questions conventional wisdom about the negative effects of social media,^[12] and argues that increased regulation of platforms like Twitter and Facebook could stifle free speech and do more harm than good.^[13]

Personal life

He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Carrie, and he serves on the D.C. Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.^[14]

Bibliography

Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump (All Points Books, 2019)
Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future (All Points Books, 2021)

References

^ Soave, Robby [@robbysoave] (July 24, 2019). "I pronounce it 'swah - vay.' Not everyone in my family does, though. It's like that in its original Italian, and I prefer this to the American-ized version" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ Soave, Robby (2019). Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250169907.
^ ^a ^b Weissmueller, Zach; Soave, Robby (June 14, 2019). "Young Radicals Against Free Speech: Reason's Robby Soave on His New Book, Panic Attack". Reason.
^ "Were the student protests at Middlebury a threat to free speech? Two writers duke it out". Mic. March 17, 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
^ ^a ^b "2016 30 Under 30: Law & Policy". Forbes. October 18, 2016. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
^ Beauchamp, Zack (2019-01-23). "The real politics behind the Covington Catholic controversy, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
^ Uyehara, Mari (2019-01-25). "Who's Complicit in the Covington Catholic Debacle?". GQ. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
^ Serwer, Adam (2019-01-23). "The Trump-Era Overcorrection". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
^ Soave, Robby (June 17, 2019). "Robby Soave's New Book, Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump, Hits Stores Tomorrow". Reason.
^ Bauer-Wolf, Jeremy (June 19, 2019). "Author skewers campus culture wars in new book". Inside Higher Ed.
^ Conroy, J. Oliver (July 28, 2019). "Panic Attack review: a wake-up call the woke won't read". The Guardian.
^ Geek's Guide to the Galaxy (October 15, 2021). "What If Panic Over Social Media Is Overblown?". Wired.
^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future by Robby Soave. Threshold, $28 (256p) ISBN 978-1-982159-59-7". Publishers Weekly. September 27, 2021.
^ "Robby Soave". Reason.com. Retrieved 2021-09-10.