QfAUD [Library ebook] Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker Online [QfAUD.ebook] Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker Pdf Free Thomas Vinciguerra ePub | *DOC | audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook #625713 in Books Thomas Vinciguerra 2016-10-18 2016-10-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.30 x 1.20 x 5.60l, .0 #File Name: 0393353532480 pagesCast of Characters Wolcott Gibbs E B White James Thurber and the Golden Age of the New Yorker | File size: 27.Mb Thomas Vinciguerra : Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker: 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Highly RecommendedBy Anne E HendlerAs a lover of New York and the New Yorker magazine, and more importantly a lover of words and language, I found this book fascinating. The author uses the best of his characters' language play and plays with language himself quite a bit to tell their stories. I learned a lot about the place in history of the people who started the magazine I admire. I don't read a lot of non- fiction, but I found this book compelling. Highly recommended.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Terrific Read That Lives Up to E.B. White's LegacyBy David ZapolskyAs I read Thomas Vinciguerra's masterful recounting of the New Yorker's golden ages, I kept thinking how difficult it must have been not only to organize and compile the wealth of material that exists about the literary giants whose lives and works are so deftly portrayed, but to tell their story in a simple, elegant, and compelling way that E.B. ("Andy") White would have demanded. The very act of writing about the lives and works of White, Gibbs, Ross, and Thurber implicitly requires the author to live up to the high literary standards to which they all held themselves - and countless would-be New Yorker contributors. Fortunately, Mr. Vinciguerra lives up to that standard, giving us an eloquent, eminently readable, and swiftly moving account of the lives, loves, and works of those men, and other colorful characters such as Charles Addams, who made the New Yorker what it is today. It reminded me of A. Scott Berg's wonderful Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, one of my favorite biographies. Whether you are already a fan of literary history, or simply curious about how the New Yorker came to be, you will thoroughly enjoy this terrific history.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. ... literacy needs to read this outstanding history of the brilliant and lunatic characters responsible for creating the first tBy Greg AmiciAnyone interested in literature and literacy needs to read this outstanding history of the brilliant and lunatic characters responsible for creating the first true "modern" American magazine, The New Yorker. Author Thomas Vinciguerra does a masterful job in capturing the mad world of Wolcott Gibbs, E.B. White, and founder/editor Harold Ross, along with an agglomeration of the Twentieth Century's most talented American essayists, cartoonists and fiction writers. They were gifted artists, but they were also 14 hour a day workaholics, which probably accounts for the fact that they were often mean-spirited drunks as well -- Raymond Chandler characterized their cynicism as "undergraduate sarcasm." Cast of Characters is essential reading for anyone dabbling in essay form; Vinciguerra, a graduate of Columbia's School of Journalism, has a great understanding of the reporter's craft, and gives a fascinating and detailed account of the writing and editing rules that came down from 20 West Forty-third Street (the use of "43rd," instead of Forty-third, for example, was forbidden), many of which remain firmly in place within the American lexicon, and were later codified by White in his now standard English language grammar and syntax guide, The Elements of Style. Vincigeurra's own clean, snappy prose conjures up images of chain-smoking, gum-cracking wisenheimers who never let up on their work, or each other. The rivalry between Time magnate Henry Luce and Ross makes for great drama and comedy, and the magazine's exposeacute; of Walter Winchell provides a lesson in the perils of hubris. If only we had journalists like Gibbs and fact checkers like the indefatigable Freddie Packard working the field and holding down the fort today, government officials might actually be scrutinized when they contradict themselves every hour on the hour. Vinciguerra does an exceptional job in creating the mood and setting of the times, evoking a Central Park moon reflecting off a silver cigarette case during the halcyon days of the 20's and 30's and then shifting the tone when all joys are shattered by war and the H-Bomb. Writers, linguists, historians, and anyone who appreciates a superbly told story of a revolutionary period in American literature must own this encyclopedic work. ldquo;Exuberant . elegantly conjures an evocative group dynamic.rdquo; ?Sam Roberts, New York TimesFrom its birth in 1925 to the early days of the Cold War, The New Yorker slowly but surely took hold as the countryrsquo;s most prestigious, entertaining, and informative general-interest periodical. In Cast of Characters, Thomas Vinciguerra paints a portrait of the magazinersquo;s cadre of charming, wisecracking, driven, troubled, brilliant writers and editors.He introduces us to Wolcott Gibbs, theater critic, all-around wit, and author of an infamous 1936 parody of Time magazine. We meet the demanding and eccentric founding editor Harold Ross, who would routinely tell his underlings, "I'm firing you because you are not a genius," and who once mailed a pair of his underwear to Walter Winchell, who had accused him of preferring to go bare-bottomed under his slacks. Joining the cast are the mercurial, blind James Thurber, a brilliant cartoonist and wildly inventive fabulist, and the enigmatic E. B. White?an incomparable prose stylist and Ross's favorite son?who married The New Yorker's formidable fiction editor, Katharine Angell. Then there is the dashing St. Clair McKelway, who was married five times and claimed to have no fewer than twelve personalities, but was nonetheless a superb reporter and managing editor alike. Many of these characters became legends in their own right, but Vinciguerra also shows how, as a group, The New Yorkerrsquo;s inner circle brought forth a profound transformation in how life was perceived, interpreted, written about, and published in America.Cast of Characters may be the most revealing?and entertaining?book yet about the unique personalities who built what Ross called not a magazine but a "movement." 8 pages of illustrations ldquo;Swift and enjoyable reading.rdquo; - Pamela Erens, New York Times Book ldquo;Vinciguerra is an artful stage manager of his material; at times, one has a stirring sense of eavesdropping on intimate, literate, testy conversations. As a writer, he has a knack for understatement, an eye for the odd and telling facthellip;.his writing would not be out of place in a New Yorker issue of, say, 1938. I hasten to add that that is a high compliment.rdquo; - Ben Yagoda, Wall Street Journalldquo;Fresh and invigoratinghellip;itrsquo;s to Vinciguerrarsquo;s great credit that he manages to avoid both condescension and hagiography in writing about the flawed, brilliant people behind it.rdquo; - Kate Tuttle, Boston Globeldquo;Captures the eccentricities and idiosyncrasies of its editors and writershellip;will be embraced be faithful New Yorker readers.rdquo; - Publishers Weeklyldquo;Vinciguerrarsquo;s writing has a way of bringing these characters to sparkling lifehellip;. New Yorker readers are a dedicated lot and will snap this lsquo;golden agersquo; volume up.rdquo; - Booklistldquo;Irresistiblehellip;a banquet of information about the good writing and bad manners of the eccentric crew who made a myth both of themselves and of the journal they made famous. Vinciguerra writes a sharp, crisp sentence, and tells his story with brio.rdquo; - John Lahr, author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Fleshldquo;Reading Thomas Vinciguerrarsquo;s Cast of Characters is like being at a tantalizing gossip session about the star writers and supporting players of The New Yorker in its formative years. The book is entertaining, often surprising, and deeply interesting. Vinciguerra is an avid chronicler and a fair one.rdquo; - Mary Norris, New York Times best-selling author of Between You and Meldquo;To lovers of The New Yorker, Tom Vinciguerrarsquo;s marvelous Cast of Characters is a must-have. Itrsquo;s as close as yoursquo;ll ever get to going behind the scenes with Wolcott Gibbs, James Thurber, E. B. and Katharine White, and their colleagues as they helped Harold Ross create this influential publication. Gibbsrsquo;s role in particular is a revelation.rdquo; - Thomas Kunkel, author of Man in Profile: Joseph Mitchell of The New Yorkerldquo;Too many of the books about the Algonquin Round Table and The New Yorker magazine are little more than laundry lists of well-worn anecdotes. Thomas Vinciguerra gives us substance along with the bon mots and, in so doing, evokes the bright, brilliant, long-ago Manhattan that all newcomers have dreamed of finding.rdquo; - Tim Page, author of Dawn Powell: A Biography and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticismldquo;Writing this scrupulous is almost never this completely entertaining.