Mr. Philip Hamburger (per the book jacket) has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1939 or 62 years. Writing for The New Yorker is an accomplishment in itself, I have read of no one who has written for the New Yorker for the duration that Mr. Hamburger has. After all these decades one would expect that he would be a man of strong opinions which would entrench him at some point on the Political Yardstick. Any concern about partisanship is dismissed when he scorns the concepts of left and right, and suggests, "common sense, decency, and the better angels of our nature", should be what governs the thoughts of people.

The Author is remarkable for many accomplishments, however his history of having attended every Inauguration since FDR'S First, and missing only FDR'S Third and Fourth is remarkable. These events serve as milestones in his life as he viewed his first from the branches of a tree, and as time passed became a guest at a variety of distinguished functions that he tends to bring down to earth and into focus.

Readers will come away from reading the wisdom this man has accumulated over half a century with different experiences based on what he chose to include in this book, and how he treated the topics. He is a remarkable writer that would attend and observe and then write of his encounters with Washington's major events, or a private gathering with a Mayor, and then write a reflection of the topic and its relevance without discoloring it with personal prejudice. He is clearly an admirer of some of his subjects such as Judge Learned Hand, however after you read his 1946 story about this jurist and orator, you too may find you have a new individual you admire, and have been introduced to a speech that is as powerful as any given in our Country's History.

This is the Author's 8th book and I hope there are more. Perhaps a collection of his work will be forthcoming, for if it is all as good or nearly good as this small collection, a marvelous piece of history it would make.

The subtitle suggests that Hamburger offers a "political excursion" and indeed he does, enabling his reader to tag along with him as he attends national political conventions and Presidential inaugurations, beginning in 1948. Along the way, he shares his reactions to (and in some instances, his direct encounters with) various major political figures such as Fiorello LaGuardia, William O'Dwyer, Harry Truman, Thomas Dewey, Dwight Eisenhower, Joseph McCarthy, Robert Wagner, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. My personal favorites are those passages in which he shares his thoughts and feelings about Learned Hand, Dean Acheson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (in "retrospective"). Most of these essays originally appeared in The New Yorker. Perhaps you read those when they were first published. They are even more enjoyable to read now, especially within the sequence of presentation in this book. What adds substantially to the reader's pleasure is the high quality of Hamburger's writing style which is, in my opinion, places him in the company of George Orwell and E.B. White. Hamburger has a delicious sense of humor and a keen eye for significant detail. Within his commentaries on various world leaders, he is never reluctant to share his own strong opinions about a given subject such as "McCarthyism."

Please allow me a rather personal way in which to express my appreciation of this book. As I read it, I felt as if Hamburger and I had just completed dinner and adjourned to the living room with a beverage in hand. "As you look back over all those years and reflect on all those experiences, what are your most vivid memories of the people you observed? Which moments remain indelible? From today's perspective, what do you make of all that?" Obviously, this is a hypothetical situation but his responses can be found in this immensely entertaining as well as informative book.

In the final chapter, "Postscript: Vermeer Time", Hamburger discusses his great good fortune (in the spring of 1996) in being able to see the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery where he was greeted by Arthur K. Wheelock, the museum's curator of northern baroque paintings and co-curator of the exhibition. He shares his reactions, especially to "View of Delft" which he observed intently for "an embarrassingly long time." Here is how he concludes the chapter and the book: "Dreams must end. Back to the Metroliner and the reality of Gotham.. But, as the train left Union Station, there, on the right, under a lowering sky, and a patch of sunlight on a row of houses, I saw, for a glorious moment, an instance of Vermeer time." Those fortunate to read this book rejoice in having shared such a generous portion of "Hamburger time."

This is a terrific collection of short and medium-length pieces that are wise, witty, and thoroughly absorbing. It deserves all of the praise it has earned.

Hamburger is a lifelong Democrat. He is old enough to remember fascism's disastrous effects on the world, and wise enough to have no patience for its contemporary apologists, although he is good at describing them. He is deeply humane and deeply ethical - along with being a wonderful storyteller. He is very, very smart, and has a great ability to listen, to watch, and to get to know people. In a quiet and subtle way, he is wholly present. These are some of the abilities that are at the heart of his writing.

He has been at it, "warily," (his adverb) for a comparatively long time. In his Prologue he offers some interesting autobiographical material. This collection begins with a piece written in 1943, and the most recent is from 1993. He reports on his fourteenth inauguration, and that he had to skip two of FDR's. Students of American politics of the '40's, '50's, and '60's will not be disappointed. "Lonely Day," a short, atmospheric piece about voting for President in 1960, and "One Man's Vote," written in 1992, are two of many pieces that in 2001 seem nearly prescient. In the second one there is some suspense regarding election day, a crisis regarding broken voting machines, and, in this instance, a happy ending. The machines are fixed and voting resumes. Democracy prevails. "One man" votes. This event had deep meaning, and the reader knows it.

An April 1970 piece "Hand on Cardozo," quotes then-Nebraska Senator Roman L. Hruska's public defense - against charges of mediocrity - of Judge Harold Carswell, President Nixon's nominee to the US Supreme Court. Nixon: " Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers, and they are entitled to a little representation, aren't they?"

In addition to being smart and colorful political reportage, his pieces also form a series of lessons on how to write. I can't imagine students not learning from him. Whether it's the grape juice that a public figure happens to be drinking, or the atmosphere of City Hall in NYC Mayor LaGuardia's administration (" ..the Hall seemed electric. Secretaries addressed one another hurriedly, the way spies talk in Hitchcock movies." ), he can distill and enlarge - to great effect. Finally, there is a jewel-like piece on seeing the Vermeer show ("I slipped down on the Metroliner") at the National Gallery in Washington, in 1996.

This is a great collection and thoroughly worthwhile.

Two stories in this book--Broadway Storekeeper and Tummler--are among the best pieces of reportage I have ever read. They offer everything modern journalism lacks--taste, gentle humor, appreciation instead of scorn for the unusual, and a broad, affectionate view of the world. The whole book is a pleasure, but these two stories should be in every anthology of American reporting. Liebling was one of a kind.

Philip Hamburger was a staff writer of The New Yorker magazine for 58 years starting in 1939. He's served under all four of its editors and has written for nearly every section of the magazine from Talk of the Town to Shouts and Murmurs. He's been a wartime overseas correspondent and a reviewer of music and television, and written the famous 55-part series on mid-sized American cities titled "Notes for a Gazetteer" as well as innumerable profiles and interviews. His book Curious World is a collection of Hamburger's favorite of these profiles written between 1946 to 1986. Hamburger is a true master of the profile. He takes the form from it's humble beginnings as introduction material (so-and-so was born at such and-such a time...is currently...has won these prizes...) to a literary type of interview that reads like fiction. Breaking traditional reporting style, Hamburger includes himself as a main character in all of these essays giving the reader the use of his eyes and ears as well as filtering 'facts' through his own 'rose-colored glasses'. Not only does a reader hear what the interviewed have to say, but experiences the world as this reporter does. Luckily for the reader, Hamburger's world is a charming one full of heros and humor. Is it news? Is it truth? What can be said except that the world only exists as it is experienced by individuals. Who better to experience it for us than Philip Hamburger? Hamburger begins many of his profiles with descriptions of the people he is about to report on. These descriptions range from the purely aesthetic to memories that offer insight into the person's character. Despite the fact that such descriptions are normally considered mundane and "too much information", from Hamburger, these snippets are all important, attention-grabbing devices that immediately intrigue the reader as well as changing the 'subject' from an object of inspection to a leading character in a novel. Here are his first three sentences of an essay about a drawing teacher:Robert Beverly Hale is a beloved teacher. He is a tall, spare, somewhat rumpled patrician of seventy-six, with black rimmed glasses and an El Greco face. He teaches two courses, Artistic Anatomy and Elements of Drawing, at the Art Students League, on West Fifty-seventh Street, and his classes are a continual, and almost legendary, celebration not only of the beauty and wonder of the human form but of Hale himself.

From these introductions, Hamburger generally moves on to describe the circumstances under which he has met the engaging subject. He always refers to himself in his essays as "we" which, in it's quaint, formal way, invites the reader into his secret world as he tells his story like he's relating a memory he and his reader share. Hamburger tells the reader where he is; "we ran into him the other day at the Guggenheim, where some three hundred of his works cover every curve of the museum, hang from the ceiling (Dubuffet clouds float somewhat disturbingly in a world that is neither here nor there), and even overflow into the subterranean auditorium, where masses of giant cutout figures (his so-called Hourloupe figures) are lined up between performances of his animated-painting extravaganza Coucou Bazar" and what his subject looks like; "Dubuffet was wearing a tightly knit brown suit, a blue-and-white shirt, and an elegant brocaded gold tie, which perfectly complemented the occasional flashing of his gold teeth, of which he has quite a number." Once Hamburger has set the scene, as it were, he lets the main character (the interviewed) take over giving him full voice in the story. Normally, the bulk of each essay is a compilation of direct quotations of the subject relating his experiences with an occasional comment along the lines of "Hammerstein walked over to a map of Scandinavia standing on a bookcase shelf. Small pins with paper pennants had been stuck into it." The essay takes up again the enchanting monologue of the hero which only Hamburger could draw from a person. The changing o! f paragraphs indicates that some time and conversation has elapsed between speeches, but does not break the train of thought from one idea to the next inviting the reader to step inside the magic world of another's mind.

Besides these monologues, Hamburger is a strong presence in the pieces. He relates his introduction to and taking leave of his subject as they affect him personally. Often, he reveals how the meeting has changed his view of the world.

"I realized that I was in the grip of technology and needed patience, perseverance, and an open mind. I felt blue about this until I walked into one of the enormous reading rooms behind the catalogue room. There sat hundreds of people, quietly reading. There was a slight mummer in the room, almost a whisper, and it sounded like low music of the spheres. As long as there is this reading room, these people, this murmur, I thought, we are all safe. Perhaps."

Possibly, Hamburger includes these insights in the hope that the reader's view has been thus affected as well. And how could he not be? Hamburger's subjects are presented as glamorous, humble and noble. They are ever accessible to the reader and always welcoming of conversation. They are perfect storybook characters waiting for the happy ending. All of Hamburger's essays show the beautiful side of life where hard work and honesty are rewarded and where there is always hope. His interviews are so enchanting that one forgets to ask if the world can really be like this, and where are the villains.

The idea of "separation of church and state" today is in much debate as those on the religious right accuse the secularization of America for countless social ills, and recent decisions such as the controversial ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance and subsequent mass public outcry demonstrate exactly why the issues Mr. Hamburger discusses are so important in today's society.

The historical analyses are indeed interesting but do seem somewhat revisionistic in nature, such as the idea that the founding fathers "didn't really intend for strict separation"--what they meant is certainly up for debate, but the changing interpretations of the First Amendment are the very nature of our government, not a "myth" invented later in history.

Overall, the book to me seems somewhat slanted to the idea that the state and church (namely, the Christian church) need not be so cleanly divided as has been recent policy, but it is nonetheless an interesting read.

What a tremendous contribution to the debate! Hamburger's book is a survey of the development of this phrase beginning in the Reformation, and carrying down through nativist and 20th century Ku Klux Klan campaigns. With this and Daniel Dreisbach's book on Jefferson's "wall" metaphor, the strict separationist view is now on the historical defensive.

This book is the photographic equivalent to mythical eighties Dennis Cooper novel. Five American photographers, forerunners of their generation, each with a distinct style of his own yet sharing the same subject matters: urbanism, seperateness, violence, Aids, homosexuality, to name a few. These issues are dealt with through the use of portraits, mostly-urnban landscapes and youths. Though some shots are not as good as others, every artist here has at least 2 or 3 gems in his/her collection, and these gems make the book a must.

I'm a great fan of the (old pre-Tina) New Yorker and was really looking forward to this book. It seems to be a selection of the author's worst pieces in the last 60 years. Not up to the old New Yorker standards at all. Not to mention being a bit trendy-lefty (the pieces on the Kennedy an Reagan inaugurals blast any hope of objectivity, and the Clinton election piece is nauseating). Also the type is too large and there is far too much white space, just padding out the length of this thing. Pass, buy Thurber's Years With Ross instead.

A well-organized personal romp through years with the NYer, and interesting side- trips along the way. Perhaps not as palatable as other books connected to the New Yorker's history and legacy, but a good read for those of us who can't get enough.