Isaac Goldberg (1887 – July 14, 1938) was an American journalist, author, critic, translator, editor, publisher, and lecturer. Born in Boston to Jewish parents, he studied at Harvard University and received a BA degree in 1910, a MA degree in 1911 and a PhD in 1912. He traveled to Europe as a journalist during World War I writing for the Boston Evening Transcript.^[1]

He wrote biographies of H. L. Mencken, Havelock Ellis, W. S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and George Gershwin, books on theatrical and musical appreciation, books of Spanish -American Literature and contributed articles for many magazines. He also founded, published, and edited a monthly news magazine called Panorama.^[2]

He was fluent in Yiddish, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese and translated a variety of literary works into English. He received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in 1932 to write a history of Spanish and Portuguese literature in America.

Selected works

• Studies in Spanish-American literature, New York, Brentano's 1920
• The drama of transition; native and exotic playcraft, Cincinnati : Stewart Kidd company c1922
• Brazilian literature. New York, A. A. Knopf 1922 Reprinted Gordon Press 1975
• The theatre of George Jean Nathan : chapters and documents toward a history of the new American drama New York : Simon and Schuster 1926
• The story of Gilbert and Sullivan New York, Simon and Schuster, 1928
• The wonder of words; an introduction to language for everyman, New York, London, D. Appleton-Century Company, incorporated 1938
• George Gershwin : a study in American music New York : Simon and Schuster 1931, Reprinted F. Ungar Pub. Co. 1958
• Major Noah: American-Jewish pioneer, Philadelphia, New York : Knopf 1937, (about Noah, M. M. (Mordecai Manuel), 1785-1851
• (with Isidore Witmark) . The Story of the House of Witmark: From Ragtime to Swingtime. New York: L. Furman, 1939. Print.