Louis Auchincloss is always dead-on in his fine wrought character portraits throughout his prolific oeuvre. Here, in what is likely his finest work, that, along with all his other formidable storytelling gifts, the characterization is at its lofty apex. He also experiments a bit with form, going beyond the usual fictional biography techniques by including pertinent conversations and writings by former students (a brilliant few chapters!), family, and associates. Indeed, there is a certain irony in his biographer's comments late in the book: "But my trouble is precisely that I am not interested in writing a biography. I am interested in inspiring my reader, and I am much at odds with my century in believing that to demonstrate the best by itself is more inspiring than the best with the worst." We get an entirely balanced portrait of a great man of ideas who, joyously, is ultimately as human and full of foibles as the boys he so carefully nurtures. This is awesome, hopeful, faith-inducing, awesomely inspiring and fun read.

If you're going to read only one novel by the prolific American writer Louis Auchincloss, this is the one to read. It is a minor modern classic and represents Auchincloss's best work during what I regard as his prime period. The Rector of Justin tells the life story, from schoolboy to death at age 85, of Frank Prescott (Dr. Francis Prescott), rector/headmaster/founder of the exclusive New England Episcopalian boys' school Justin Martyr (a famous prep school), by means of six narrators, male and female, whose attitudes toward their subject range from veneration to hatred. It's an effective method of "surrounding" the elusive, somewhat larger-than-life central character, and the book is well written, the right length, and compulsively readable. I first read it when it came out in 1964, have just re-read it, and find that it holds up quite well. Auchincloss's main fault is his glib facility: writing is too easy for him; he was written too much; and too much of it, smoothly ushered in on its cushion of graceful, well-oiled prose, is pallid, thin, brittle, superficial; too much of it is engaging enough while you're reading it, but forgettable, leaving no lasting imprint. This fault is minimized but not absent here. This is not a profound or searching book, but an excellent, enjoyable read, and a fine introduction to a worthwhile if over-productive modern author.

THE RECTOR OF JUSTIN is for my money the greatest of all"school novels" of the 20th century, and one of the great novels ever. Louis Auchincloss has an extraordinary collectioon of novels and non-fiction, and I hope more and more will appear in Modern Library's editions. Nobody now livng writes with the grace, richness of apirit and wit that Achincloss has, sentence by sentence. You care about hio people, and in all the novels there is a procession of fascinating, articulate characters, vividly alive and engaging,struggling, triumphing, wrestling with the complexities and hopes of their lives.. I must have read this novel ten times by now, across several decades. I have been handing out my own collected copies right and left. Nos it is newly published in a sparkling edition, and it stands with the world 's best fiction where it most certainly belongs.

Louis Auchincloss presents two diaries which help the reader better appreciate the growth of Manhattan during the nascent years of this country.

Both the diarists chronicle the great and the mundane events which guided this nation through the assimilation of new citizens, the growth of a two-party system and the development of a war between the industrial states and the agricultural states.

Hone is expecially descriptive of the social dynamics which followed the overthrow of aristocracy and the rise of a political party whose leaders succeeded by manipulating large numbers of newly immigrated citizens.

This book is especially valuable for those of us who have trouble visualising Manhattan as a town modest by today's standards. To paraphrase Mr. Auchincloss' notes, it is for people who don't remember when The Battery was uptown.

If you revel, as I do, in learning about the lives, works and milieus of mostly forgotten literary figures, then this is most certainly the book for you. These essays are, happily, far too short to be called "resurrections" of these figures. Auchincloss realizes that it takes a well-received, deeply researched book on just one subject to achieve such a mammoth task. So, he urbanely unveils to us these mostly forgotten writers, briefly explaining why he thinks they deserve recognition and then moves on to the next subject...One of the finest things about this book is that Auchincloss does not beat his head against the wall trying to convince you of the writers' worth. Either the artist catches on with you or not. For instance, in his piece on Sarah Orne Jewett, he concludes, "And some persons are never going to believe that two semiliterate old farmers' widows sitting on a crumbling back porch in a decayed Maine coastal village are going to have much to say that will interest them."-It's this urbanity and ease-of-style that make this little book so pleasant a read.

Our Town: Images and Stories from the Museum of the City of New York presents--in the highest quality four-color and duotone reproductions--an amazing range of New York City images, from urban scene paintings, to the renowned Stettheimer Dollhouse, to the phenomenal 20th c. photography of such artists as Berenice Abbott and Edward Steichen. The essays capture glimpses of the City and its history from the widest range of noted authors--Robert A.M. Stern, Oscar Hijuelos, Hilton Als, Louis Auchincloss, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, etc. Don't miss it!

This is one of Auchincloss's best books: a splendid collection of twelve short stories, in my opinion the finest of his several collections of stories, and from his prime period. Here all the stories are interconnected by being about members of the large, prestigious Wall Street law firm of Tower, Tilney and Webb. Auchincloss, himself once a Manhattan lawyer, knows whereof he writes and creates a memorable world of diverse, colorful characters and juicy predicaments: the autocratic senior partner's plot to drive out of the firm a cynical, hard-drinking old loose cannon of a partner whom he detests; the scheme of a jealous young associate, ambitious for a partnership, to discredit a rival; the plight of an ineffectual, despised partner who owes his position in the firm to the fact that his uncle was its founder; a bachelor partner whose secret obsession is his tell-all diary, which grows like a monstrous plant to more than fifty volumes, and which he is afraid to let anyone read; a senior secretary who venerates the firm's dead founder and its past, and whose plans for her retirement party include telling off its present management; a maverick young Irish associate of dubious background, brought in "from outside" as a specialist and made to feel that he is "not one of us," who commences to romance the senior partner's daughter; an aged partner, another who owes his place to family connections instead of ability, who lives in perpetual dread of the mistake he knows he will eventually make that will prove his undoing; an irascible partner who is the firm's czar of litigation, pursuing a particularly convoluted and litigious divorce case; a humorless young blueblooded associate fighting a losing battle to preserve his aristocratic values when faced with a rich, sleazy Armenian client; the unwanted middle-aged wife of a partner, himself a heel who decides to dump her, and her unplanned and unexpected revenge; the battle between two society dowagers (one aided by her lawyer) for social supremacy in a Maine harbor resort; and finally, the senior partner at 58 contemplating an offer to abandon the law and become president of his alma mater, a small northeastern college.

By turns witty, shrewd, humorous (a feature not always conspicuous in Auchincloss's work), characterized by the deft, telling phrase and incisive repartee, the book is a sharply observed, well-written tour de force, the right length, and compulsively readable. I first read it when it came out in 1963, have just re-read it, and find that it holds up quite well.

Auchincloss would like to see himself as a writer in the genteel tradition of Henry James and Edith Wharton; he is in fact more in the genteel tradition of John P. Marquand. His main fault is his glib facility: writing is too easy for him; he was written too much; and too much of it, smoothly ushered in on its cushion of graceful, well-oiled prose, is pallid, thin, brittle, superficial; too much of it is engaging enough while you're reading it, but forgettable, leaving no lasting imprint. This fault is minimized but not absent here. This is not a profound or searching book, but a delightful, enjoyable read, and a fine representation of a worthwhile if over-productive modern American author.

Having recently 'discovered' Auchincloss, I am currently working my way through his opus, and thoroughly enjoyed this well-mannered and yet devastatingly honest collection of stories. Auchincloss is a gentle, observant man with a fine sense of the ambiguous -- he is more interested in exploring inconsistencies and differences of perspective than in creating 'good' or 'bad' characters -- very refreshing in this 15-minute age.

I loved this book. If you are looking for a book that shows you sites deep inside the long lost mansions of 5th avenue, then this is your book. Read it from cover to cover or just skim through the pages over and over again. These photos tell a million stories, from the caen stone interiors to the triple mansions' immense proportions and details to the lives of the architects themselves. This is a great book!

This book is a great look at the stories of all the houses the Vanderbilts purchased or created with their spetacular wealth- and also some of the fascinating stories of the eccentric family members behind the houses. The book is filled with rare photographs and stories of all the Vanderbilt castles.

I found the book to be very entertaining- a must have if you're interested in the Vanderbilt family or the Gilded Age in general.

If that Library Journal reviewer read more than just the Introduction, which contains a couple of typos, he'd have realized this book tells more about the Vanderbilts and their world than any other book on the subject. Obviously, he didn't. It's a great read.

Part One is wonderful. The remainder is very outdated. I can appreciate the man's spirit but am not really interested in early 20th century discourses on European culture and nationalism. Rolland, like Sinclair Lewis, was probably deserving of the Nobel in his time, but the lack of attention both receive today is indicative of how confined to their time their works were, IMHO. By the way, if we're going to read early 20th greats let's not forget Tagore.

I read this book when I was in high school. All summer nights in 1994!! I even felt bad as I progressed through the pages as if the book was a bag of cookies. Ideal, spiritual, as pure as the sound of a wood wind instrument.

A decade later I revisited this book this summer. The protagonist were no more as inspirational as before. First of all this Jean Christophe person is such a super moral man that I don't see any reality in his character. It is hard to imagine that Beethoven was such a character.( Another book by the same author. See how I was intrigued then.) Maybe I'm wrong. People born before WW2 could have lived different lives than our own.

I read it translated in Korean about 12 years ago. Though i felt it was somewhat boring at that time, i couldn't put it down, so i persisted. And now i know the book has been serving all these years as a formative novel to me. I am afraid I don't remember the details, but surely i remember how absolutely it absorbed me and arrested me. I want to get a copy of it now and read it again, for now I am sure i will be fully enjoying it, even loving the memory of boredom it gave me when i was a novice and dull reader. So sad it is out of print.

This slim volume may serve as a excellent introduction to the life of TR, or as a bracing romp through familiar landscape for devoted TR aficionados. The book itself is a little pricey for what you get, however (I hope a paperback edition of this American Presidents series is made available eventually), and it is pretty evident to the informed reader that Auchincloss is merely reviewing the conclusions of previous biographers. Auchincloss does attend to a particularly interesting period of TR's life, i.e. his decline and fall. From TR's impulsive public declaration not to seek a "third" term, the bloodletting in Africa, his quixotic Bull Moose campaign, the misadventure in the Amazon, to TR's death shortly following the death of his youngest son in WWI ("poor Quinnikins"), Auchincloss's volume was for me a tantalizing foreshadowing of what is certain to be a grand event in biography -- the third volume of Edmund Morris's TR trilogy. This book should help keep you satisfied (if only for a few hours) until the release of Morris' next volume. And after you read Auchincloss's TR, you should read his THE RECTOR OF JUSTIN if you've never done so, and also Edward Renehan's THE LAST LION (excellent mini-biographies of TR's sons, fascinating characters in their own right).

This book serves as a good introduction to Theodore Roosevelt to either satisfy or stimulate one's curiosity before indulging in a lengthier biography. This is a "short" bio, and not meant to be a treatise on T.R. The author was better with his Penguin Lives book on Woodrow Wilson, but he seemed to have more fun with Roosevelt.
As a subject T.R. is especially enjoyable, but more for his forceful character than for any of his objective accomplishments (for which the author notes several, e.g., negotiating the peace between Japan and Russia, and his national conservationist orders, etc.).
The author addresses Roosevelt's sense that his presidency was relatively unspectacular, and since war time presidents receive the most historical attention (e.g., leading to positive evaluations for Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, but negative for Wilson due to his post war failures), Roosevelt felt himself cheated from his place of greatness due to being a peacetime president.
As this author notes, many of T.R.'s beliefs had long lasting value (especially, I feel, his beliefs on the limitations of capitalism as spoken by a pro-business chief executive). Those who followed him, though, soon abandoned these attitudes. The reason for this seems to rest with T.R. He accomplished much emphasizing the forcefulness of his personality and took credit for improvements as being uniquely his. Since he can be the only T.R., his philosophy could not be transmitted to others. When out of office, he was no longer "T.R." and his so-called system collapsed as with a deck of cards. He was ultimately left a shell of his former self.
What if Roosevelt had toned down some of his tendencies? Might he have extended his influence over the next administrations and the country? If so, might this have led to a different result in how America influenced the developing European disputes that resulted in the First World War? These are some of the questions that remained with me from reading this book.

This is the second volume in the new American Presidents series edited by Arthur M. Schlessinger, and like the first on James Madison, provides excellent, although brief insight into one of America's most fascinating characters. The prime focus of this book is on TR's presidential and post-presidential years. Limited space does not allow for anything more than a brief summary of Roosevelt's early life, which may actually be his most interesting period. Still there is enough to give the reader a basis for understanding Roosevelt's revolutionary power-expanding actions as President. Auchincloss does a wonderful job of filling this short volume with all of the important events of Roosevelt's life while keeping to a very enjoyable and readable style. It is a good introduction to Roosevelt and will leave you wanting to learn more.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton was a well-written book. The descriptions of New York society made the story jump off the pages. I also learned a bit of history through these in-depth details. Although Wharton does get a bit carried away at times, the detail brings the story alive.
My favorite character was May Welland Archer. She showed a lot of character throughout the novel. Knowing what was going on between her husband, Newland Archer and her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, I felt a sense of pity for May. Although Newland remained faithful to May, his heart was not truly with him.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes history, drama or romance, but I warn the reader that the ending is disappointing. After finishing the book, I asked myself what the purpose was of the novel. Due to an inconclusive ending, I felt sad and depressed after reading the last page. Although The Age of Innocence is a good book, the conclusion is disappointing.

Edith Wharton revisits and scrutinizes the New York high society she grew up in in this novel of love, social expectations, and class boundaries. Newland Archer-the central figure in the novel- is torn between a woman who represents tradition (and never questions the social order) and the woman he loves, who challenges the limits of society's tolerance, and seems oblivious in doing so. Throughout the novel, Archer is beseiged by thoughts of following his heart, but is drawn by propiety to never break with tradition. One is reminded of "The House of Mirth", another great work by Wharton, in which the central character's social blunder in the first chapter of the novel results in an irreparable decline into the lower classes.

Not only does Wharton enlighten the reader on the social codes of conduct during "The Age of Innocence", but she also fills the novel with the dress codes, dining codes, and proper codes of etiquette which were so important in the daily lives of the members of New York's high society. This stunning attention to detail really takes the reader to a different time and place, and it's a fascinating journey.

All of Edith Wharton's books about New York society are, of course, a glimpse of an older society for us. The Age of Innocence stands out, however, because it was a nostalgic book for Edith Wharton. She wrote this book after World War I and looked back at an earlier age. Interestingly, this makes the book more rather than less resonant today. It resonates because we read this book mainly to see what society was once like. And Edith Wharton was writing for the same purpose--although for her it was more of a trip down memory lane. We struggle between rooting for characters to break free from social constraints that have since passed away and thinking that maybe these constraints created a happier society. I got the sense that Wharton was doing the same thing.

The book tells the story of Newland Archer who is engaged to May. May's cousin, Countess Olenska, comes to town escaping from a bad marriage. Countess Olenska grew up in New York but moved to Europe. She loves the newness and rationality of the New World, but has Old World mystery around her. Newland is quickly intrigued by her.

The rest of the book revolves around the triangle of May, Newland and the Countess. It often focuses on the mores of the society, the attempts of the Countess to become at home in New York, May's attempts to be good to her cousin and yet make a good marriage with Newland and Newland's struggle between his background in society and his rational view that that society's rules should be cast aside.

I would, however, recommend reading this more for the view of New York than for the plot. One example: we quickly accept the view that Newland, his family and his relations are the pinnacle of New York society. However, Wharton throws us a curveball. Newland goes to the van der Luydens to ask a favor. And we learn that Newland is really not at the pinnacle of society. The van der Luydens stand on another level and Newland's tier of society exists at the heels of this society. Throughout the book, Wharton gives us similar little nuggets of what American society once was like.

I sincerely recommend this book.