The Sixties: The Last Journal, 1960-1972

Rating:
Summary: The winter of an intellectual lion
Review: Meticulous account by Wilson of his coming to terms with old age. His precise observations of his increasing enfeeblement, and of the "glitterati" with whom he socialized, make for fascinating reading. His restless movement from Manhattan to the countryside to the beach to Europe contrasts with the subtle melancholy of his narrative; it's a page-turner with a wintry mood. Disappointed by the surprising shabbiness of the Princeton Club, for example, Wilson says, "I doubt that I shall go there again," and it's as much an acknowledgment of his own mortality as a comment on the flaking plaster. The occasional summer breeze blows through, as when he indulges his passion for Hungarian culture in a suprisingly jaunty European excursion. Gossipy and detailed insider's glimpses abound: Wilson shows us the "Camelot" White House, visits Scottie Fitzgerald, and comments on the star-crossed relationship of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. (A bonus: The paperback is beautifully "packaged." Fine design, wonderful photographs, and the heft and feel of an expensive hardbound book.)

Rating:
Summary: The winter of an intellectual lion
Review: Meticulous account by Wilson of his coming to terms with old age. His precise observations of his increasing enfeeblement, and of the "glitterati" with whom he socialized, make for fascinating reading. His restless movement from Manhattan to the countryside to the beach to Europe contrasts with the subtle melancholy of his narrative; it's a page-turner with a wintry mood. Disappointed by the surprising shabbiness of the Princeton Club, for example, Wilson says, "I doubt that I shall go there again," and it's as much an acknowledgment of his own mortality as a comment on the flaking plaster. The occasional summer breeze blows through, as when he indulges his passion for Hungarian culture in a suprisingly jaunty European excursion. Gossipy and detailed insider's glimpses abound: Wilson shows us the "Camelot" White House, visits Scottie Fitzgerald, and comments on the star-crossed relationship of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. (A bonus: The paperback is beautifully "packaged." Fine design, wonderful photographs, and the heft and feel of an expensive hardbound book.)