Unveiling the Complex Legacies of Bernstein, Brooks, Freidan, and Mailer: A Provocative Review by David Denby
Fairly presenting the event-laden, controversy-crammed lives of this talented quartet, all of whom were the children of immigrants from Eastern Europe or Russia, in 350 pages is a task that would intimidate, if not discourage entirely any sensible biographer. The challenge he took on required the delicate balancing of celebration and criticism, scene and summary, drama and fact in the lives of these four Ashkenazi Jews, all born after WWI, all gaining fame after WWII, all living mainly in New York City.
