Biography

Mr. Debs, My Darling Mr. Debs, My Darling

In offhand, birdsong passing, Marguerite Young observes: "As for the nineteenth century, it may be said that it was probably the leakiest century there ever was and so would rema...

Oct 28, 1999 / Books & the Arts / John Leonard

ER to HRC–Come in, Dear! ER to HRC–Come in, Dear!

Hillary Dear,

Sep 2, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Elsa Dixler

Poetry’s Ball Turret Gunner Poetry’s Ball Turret Gunner

Has anyone read John Dennis? Irving Babbitt? Gorham Munson? Probably not, though they were considered important critics in their day.

Jul 22, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Alfred Corn

Spy or Savior? Spy or Savior?

If Russia is not to dissolve like the Soviet Union or, worse yet, end in a cataclysm like Yugoslavia's, it must negotiate peacefully across a welter of emotional claims to self-det...

Jul 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / George Kenney

Lovestone’s Thin Red Line Lovestone’s Thin Red Line

Jay Lovestone is not only one of the oddest characters in the history of the American left but easily its most slippery.

May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Paul Buhle

Soul Survivor of Auschwitz Soul Survivor of Auschwitz

During a wide-ranging conversation I had with Primo Levi in his home in Turin in the summer of 1985, two years before his death, I asked him what effect Auschwitz had on him as a...

Mar 4, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Gabriel Motola

Albright’s State Deportment Albright’s State Deportment

Flirtatious and ferocious at the same time, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stamps the world stage over Kosovo, threatening fire from heaven if Serbian strongman Slobodan ...

Feb 25, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Ian Williams

The Prophet Vulgarized The Prophet Vulgarized

Trotsky is both the hero of the Russian Revolution--the mastermind of October, the founder of the Red Army--and also its Job, hounded across a "planet without a visa," his family...

Feb 24, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Singer

Liberal Pilgrim’s Progress Liberal Pilgrim’s Progress

Time magazine once diagnosed newspaper columnist, author, professor-at-large and Hugh Hefner sidekick Max Lerner (1902­92) as suffering from a "crush on Americ...

Feb 4, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Carlin Romano

The Great Pumpkin The Great Pumpkin

Some years ago, after I had completed a biography of the radical writer Josephine Herbst, I gave serious thought to writing a biography of Whittaker Chambers.

Jan 30, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Elinor Langer

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