Back Then: Two Literary Lives in 1950s New York

This memoir is doubly delightful because it's written by two of the wittiest and most interesting contemporary writers. We see two visions of New York City life in the 1950's--one male, one female--and have the fun of watching how these two separate lives end up intertwining. (The authors are husband and wife.) The writing is bright and rich--you're in the hands of masters of style from start to finish. Although anyone interested in the world of publishing will find the book riviting, BACK THEN will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers. It's an intriguing record of what the working world was like for educated women in the 50's (it's easy to forget today how things were before the Women's Movement!) and it's also a charming love story. The two authors grew up wealthy and privileged, but in spite of this, they were clearly not spoiled. They knew and rubbed shoulders with a dazzling array of famous people (Bernays, for instance, is a great niece of Freud; Kaplan got to dance with Marilyn Monroe at a party,) and they bring us into their world with warmth and openness. There's no arrogance here. Both authors are able to smile at themselves and able to make us smile along with them. And smile we do! This is the kind of book that will keep you up reading late at night and make you want to wake your spouse so you can read aloud your favorite sections (if you haven't woken him or her already with your laughter.) BACK THEN creates the best kind of reader dilemma: youll want to gobble up the story and at the same time you'll want to savor every line.

This is a fascinating look at a world most of us never get to see, by two people who know it intimately and write about it with both love and a highly refined sense of the absurd.Glimpsing this world is like window-shopping on Fifth Avenue at Christmas. I couldn't put it down...