Some Times in America [Hardcover]

Alexander Chancellor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0747543372 | ISBN-13: 978-0747543374 | Publication Date: June 1999

By way of Eton, Cambridge, Reuters, ITN, "The Spectator" and "The Sunday Telegraph", Alexander Chancellor arrived in America as Washington correspondent for "The Independent" in 1986. He has since joined the New Yorker and this work is his "take" on life in America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chancellor, a veteran British editor and journalist (he has been editor of the Spectator, among other publications), has done several stints in the U.S., most recently in 1992-1993 as editor of the New Yorker's Talk of the Town section under Tina Brown. This lighthearted and rather lightweight account revolves not only around the magazine but around Chancellor's social gallivanting and his glosses on American life, clearly targeted toward a British audience-for instance, "The point of most religion in the United States is that, like liquor, it should make you feel good." (And Mr. Chancellor has enjoyed his liquor: one of his adventures involved getting arrested on a DUI charge while covering the 1988 Democratic convention in Atlanta. America, he says, has "ridiculously low speed limits.") We learn how he sublet a lovely furnished flat from the writer Gregor von Rezzori, how he lunched at the prestigious Century Club, how he attended dinner parties given by the very rich Mrs. Jayne Wrightsman and, in a more unpleasant New York experience, how he got mugged. He also tells of how he rented a picturesque cottage in the Hudson Valley during the summer and invited his pal Michael Kinsley and others up for barbecues. Of working with Tina Brown, we learn that, during the early part of her editorship of the New Yorker, she lived in fear of press judgments after the extremely negative reaction to her appointment as editor: "Despite [owner] Si Newhouse's obvious admiration for her, she never behaved as if she felt secure in her job." In brief, this is a collection of anecdotes that is very New Yorker-ish--charming, urbane, witty--but slight. (Feb.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Chancellor, a lifelong journalist, was editor for the Spectator, a British political weekly, in 1975 when Tina Brown, then 21, was looking for work. He didn't hire her, but nearly two decades later, when she began her controversial term as editor for the venerable New Yorker, she hired him to oversee the magazine's opening section, "The Talk of the Town." Brown was already bristling at public skepticism over a Brit's ability to run a quintessentially American publication, so her decision to put her fellow countryman in charge of the most New York^-oriented part of the magazine seemed peculiar then and seems even more bizarre now, as Chancellor recounts his uneasy one-year tenure. He parlays his often awkward experiences into a piquant pondering of "the strangeness of being British in the U.S." and an illuminating consideration of the differences between British and American journalism. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 307 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747543372
• ISBN-13: 978-0747543374
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,572,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alex and Tina, March 28, 2001

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Some Times in America (Hardcover)

I was one of the many New Yorker subscribers who were dismayed at the announcement of Tina Brown's editorship of The New Yorker. This Brit, who came fresh from the glitzy "Vanity Fair", was to be at the helm of our elegant New Yorker? I felt her tenure was a disaster, and the only thing of which I approved was the addition of a much-needed Table of Contents.

Mr. Chancellor, an English journalist, recounts his recruitment by Ms. Brown and his subsequent year as the editor of the Talk of the Town segment of the magazine. Why Ms. Brown selected a fellow-Englishman for this task is a mystery to us and Mr. Chancellor. The "Talk of the Town" is the heart of The New Yorker, and it is well nigh unimaginable for an editor who is not only a Brit, but had no familiarity with New York City to be in charge.

The book is enjoyable written with a light, deft, slightly acidic style. Alex is fond of Tina in an edgy way. She is damned with faint praise. He is intrigued by the peculiarities of the New Yorker staff and general outlook. This is nothing new, for the ways of The New Yorker are passing strange.

Mostly the book recounts the author's adventures, which were first class in every sense of the word. He is on a chummy basis with the richest, the most social and powerful Americans. He is a guest in their homes, on their party lists, and an intimate confidante. When he wishes to have a weekend home in the country, a cottage is provided for him on a huge estate. I read and reread Mr. Chancellor's description on the book jacket and still could not make a connection between his modest attainments and background and his scintillating friends. I am sure he is a very appealing man as he writes in an attractive manner. That charm must carry him a long way.

If you ever wanted to live the high life for a year on an unlimited expense account, this is your book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must" for any fan of the New Yorker magazine., April 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Some Times in America (Hardcover)

A British journalist examines behind the scenes life at the New Yorker magazine in a blend of biography, gossip, Americana and social observation. Some Times in America provides an outsider's view of American culture and New Yorker politics, with a special focus on Tina Brown. A 'must' for any fan of the publication.

4.0 out of 5 stars LIGHTWEIGHT, SILLY AND MARVELOUSLY MOCKING!, January 5, 2003

By 

Alan W. Petrucelli (THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Some Times in America (Hardcover)

If he can make it there, he can make it anywhere. But Alexander Chancellor did not make it in New York, N.Y. -- the British writer was hired in 1995 by then-"New Yorker" Big Cheese Tina Brown to edit the magazine's mythical "Talk of the Town" section, and he failed. Miserably. His book -- the latest to join the rather long list of tomes "celebrating" the fabled magazine's 75th anniversary -- dishes as much dirt as Renata Adler's "Gone: The Last Days of 'The New Yorker'" (the best of the bunch), but Chancellor's Brit wit keeps them tamer -- with himself often the brunt of the jokes. He admits Brown had "her blind spots" and that "maybe appointing me had been one of them." Largely lightweight, sometimes silly, marvelously mocking.