This biography is a tale of an upper-middle-class white male who managed to jettison the prejudices and provincialism of his class, and become one of the most penetrating critics of mid-century American civilization. Dwight MacDonald was the founder of "The Partisan Review", and editor of "The New Yorker", "Fortune" and "Esquire". His friends ranged from Hannah Arendt to Abbie Hoffman.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The upper-middle class, Yale-educated Macdonald (1906-1982) became a leftist activist in the 1930s, edited the anti-Stalinist Partisan Review , supported Trotsky but ultimately renounced Marxism for a pacifist anarchism opposed to the bureaucratic, anti-humanistic tendencies he saw in corporate capitalism and Communism alike. A self-proclaimed cultural elitist, Macdonald, as a writer for the New Yorker and Esquire , railed against the mindless trash of pop culture while defending modernism and the avant-garde. In this astute biography, Wreszin, a professor of history at Queens College, New York City, fair-mindedly appraises Macdonald's many-sided career as opponent of U.S. entry into WW II, foe of McCarthyism, civil rights activist, Vietnam war protestor and self-appointed guardian of genuine culture. He also presents much personal material about Macdonald's failed marriage, his love affairs, nudism, psychoanalysis and the drinking and erratic behavior of his last years. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This is a first-rate biography of a seminal figure in American arts and letters. MacDonald (1906-82) is most often remembered for his critique of mass culture, his film criticism, and his critical role in New York intellectual life. Founder of the journal Politics and an influential contributor to Partisan Review, Fortune, and Esquire , MacDonald took an active part in virtually every major intellectual debate from the 1930s through the Vietnam War era. His lengthy New Yorker review of Michael Harrington's The Other America in 1960 inspired President Kennedy to launch the War on Poverty. Wreszin (history, Queens Coll.) does an admirable job of capturing MacDonald's "conservative anarchism" as well as his idiosyncratic personality: "Appearing at best unreasonably naive and at worst ridiculous," he writes, "MacDonald was invariably honest." A highly engaging book; recommended for all libraries.
- Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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