Early Years
MacDonald is of German and Scottish ancestry. He was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family. His father was a policeman and his mother was a secretary. He went to parochial schools and played basketball in high school. He entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison and became an activist in the anti-war movement from about 1965 to 1975. During this period, he perceived the East Coast Jewish origins of the majority of the movement there (Culture of Critique, p. 104), which motivated his interest in Jewish intellectual movements.
MacDonald became a philosophy major and abandoned leftist radicalism. He embarked on a career as a jazz pianist, but by the late 1970s had abandoned it in favour of academia. While in graduate school, he became attracted to E. O. Wilson's theory of sociobiology.
Read more about this topic: Kevin B. MacDonald
Famous quotes related to early years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)