New York in the Fifties

This was a great book, and I really felt like I was in a time machine following Dan Wakefield's evocative and informing chronicling of his days in New York City during the '50s. With grace and ease, I thoroughly enjoyed reading what I considered living history about living and struggling to be a writer in a special time and period. The fact that so many historic figures crossed Wakefield's path was an extra bonus.

I loved this book! Then again I loved "Wonderful Town," and "Manhattan." I was born in New York, and remember sneaking away to take the subway from the Bronx at age 8 in 1950 to catch glimpses of the glittery awesomeness of Manhattan. Leaving New York in 1954, I returned as an adult much later and made friends who had been part of the dizzying scene of the fifties ...intellectuals, bohemians. Reading this book so vividly recreates an era that, as the cliche says, will be no more. Perched between the Gotham of the 1930's, the art deco towers, the Met, the Frick, and the Space Age of the 1960's there was a post-war mecca for the arts and letters. New York was the center of it all. I have no idea how this book will be perceived by those who have not experienced this period, at least in some way. Perhaps that is the story of some of the reviewers who didn't like it. But for me, the book is like candy.

I found this book inspiring, funny, and beautifully written. It carried me to a time, before cell phones, the internet, dvds and instant communications, when the written word mattered, when books and magazines and letters were greeted with high anticipation and made a difference in people's lives. When books mattered, ideas mattered, friendships were the stuff of life, and art was not only a creative expression but an affirmation, a challenge to take the high road, to live life to the fullest. This book will put zest in your soul. I recommend it highly.

I thought the Fifties were a dull, dead backwater until I read this marvelous book. Wakefield's writing is so vivid, visceral and impassioned that you feel what it was like to be suddenly set loose in a place of magic and endless possibility. I particularly loved his account of sexuality and psychoanalysis, of the dance between male and female in those hours just before the revolution. This book made me wish I'd been in New York at that time, but reading about it from Wakefield is the next best thing.

Although I was too young to experience New York In The 50s from a first-hand account, this book made me feel as if I was actually there. I applaud Wakefield for writing one of the best memoirs that I've ever had the pleasure of reading.