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Zusatztext “Think of it as one of Alice’s Wonderland potions! to be sipped from occasionally when one is in need of a dose of the extraordinary.” — The Economist “ The 40s is an extraordinary anthology of journalism from a tumultuous era. . . . What a glittering roster scribbled for the magazine back then. . . . This anthology is such a mother lode of ‘great material!’ it’s hard to know where to begin.” — The Star “An absolutely breathtaking assemblage of some of America’s finest and most lasting writing . . . This is magnificent stuff! a cornucopia of truly distinguished literature! a near-perfect gift to give and an entirely ideal one to receive.” — Booklist (starred review) “A book to be read! reread and savored . . . an absolute treat . . . This is the soul of The New Yorker .” — Kirkus Reviews From the Hardcover edition. Informationen zum Autor The New Yorker Klappentext This captivating anthology gathers historic New Yorker pieces from a decade of trauma and upheaval-as well as the years when The New Yorker came of age, with pieces by Elizabeth Bishop, Langston Hughes, Joseph Mitchell, Vladimir Nabokov, and George Orwell, alongside original reflections on the 1940s by some of today's finest writers. In this enthralling book, contributions from the great writers who graced The New Yorker's pages are placed in historical context by the magazine's current writers. Included in this volume are seminal profiles of the decade's most fascinating figures: Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Here are classics in reporting: John Hersey's account of the heroism of a young naval lieutenant named John F. Kennedy; Rebecca West's harrowing visit to a lynching trial in South Carolina; and Joseph Mitchell's imperishable portrait of New York's foremost dive bar, McSorley's. This volume also provides vital, seldom-reprinted criticism, as well as an extraordinary selection of short stories by such writers as Shirley Jackson and John Cheever. Represented too are the great poets of the decade, from William Carlos Williams to Langston Hughes. To complete the panorama, today's New Yorker staff look back on the decade through contemporary eyes. The 40s: The Story of a Decade is a rich and surprising cultural portrait that evokes the past while keeping it vibrantly present. Including contributions by W. H. Auden • Elizabeth Bishop • John Cheever • Janet Flanner • John Hersey • Langston Hughes • Shirley Jackson • A. J. Liebling • William Maxwell • Carson McCullers • Joseph Mitchell • Vladimir Nabokov • Ogden Nash • John O'Hara • George Orwell • V. S. Pritchett • Lillian Ross • Stephen Spender • Lionel Trilling • Rebecca West • E. B. White • Williams Carlos Williams • Edmund Wilson And featuring new perspectives by Joan Acocella • Hilton Als • Dan Chiasson • David Denby • Jill Lepore • Louis Menand • Susan Orlean • George Packer • David Remnick • Alex Ross • Peter Schjeldahl • Zadie Smith • Judith ThurmanA Note by George Packer In late May 1940, the writer A. J. Liebling awaited the Second World War in “a little Marseillais restaurant on the Rue Monmartre,” dining on “Mediterranean rouget burned in brandy over twigs of fennel.” He had returned as a correspondent for The New Yorker to the city of his youthful adventures in food and other passions soon after the German invasion of Poland, in the fall of 1939, and he had spent the months of the Phony War in a state of suspended disbelief. Drawing comfort from the “gastronomic normality” of Parisian life, he convinced himself that the Nazis were overrated and the French would put up a tough fight—that this was a replay of the First World War. Even after the Wehrmacht’s Blitzkrieg cut through Holland and Belgium “as through butter” and prepared to devour France, Liebling couldn’t believe in the coming cata...
