Nat Hentoff was born in Boston on June 10, 1925. In an interview for Something about the Author he says that as a child he looked forward to his Saturday visits to the library even though it was a foreboding place. He called it a "cornucopia" where he marveled "at the continual surprises that came with [his] library card." "And unlike school, the library was—and still is—a place where one can find and keep on finding one's own surprises."

He suggests that children might profit more by an education in the library than in the school system.

He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University with highest honors and did graduate work at Harvard University and the Sorbonne in Paris. After graduation, he worked in Boston as a writer, producer, and announcer for station WMEX for nine years. Then he...