DD 051- 055.000 (Jan) About Town: The New Yorker and the World it Made by Ben Yagoda (051.0904 Yag)

I’m Baaaack!


Wow-it took 2 years and 9 months, countless renewals, a few late fees here and there, and numerous intermediary books to conquer this tome. However, the amount of time and effort it took to read this entry in the project should not reflect (entirely) on the quality of the book itself. Quite the contrary-it is a rather good book.

About Town, simply put, is a history book. It covers the history of the magazine, first and foremost, but it goes well beyond that. It speaks to the evolution of New York and America throughout the 20th century. THAT is why, in retrospect, it took me so long to read. Not being a history buff, I had to be in just the right mood to read it. Admittedly, the fact that the book is written in a very sophisticated style that made it completely unsuitable for sleepy time reading was another reason!

Having been a fan of the periodical despite never having lived in New York, I learned that I am not alone. By 1945, 73% of its readers lived outside the New York area. The book quotes from some promotional material that said, “The New Yorker is a mood, a point of view.”

One of the most interesting things regarding The New Yorker is the editing style that has been handed down from editor to editor over the years, becoming so engrained in the system as to become a style for the magazine itself. Thus very different authors, upon publication in the magazine, were instantly brought together into a stylistic fraternity, known for its sophistication and incessant use of commas.

Other journalistic techniques were implemented at The New Yorker, though not common practice at that time. The “fly on the wall” technique was one. During WWII, they used what we now refer to as imbedded reporters.

Several authors got their big break beginning with The New Yorker, and there were some books that got their humble start in the pages of the periodical as well. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was one; Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood was another. Survival, which would later be published as JFK’s PT 109 was yet another. In what was known as a turning point for The New Yorker, from primarily humor magazine to serious journalism, “Hiroshima” was published just one year after the bombs were dropped on Japan ending WWII. It was a watershed moment, and quite literally, the talk of the town.

It is interesting to note the changes in the magazine over the years dictated by the changes in society. For example, the book cites the advent of television as a source of deprivation of some of the comedians who, a generation earlier, would likely have been featured prominently within its pages. By the 1950s, however, people such as Lenny Bruce and Mel Brooks had turned to radio and television.

If you like history, you’ll likely enjoy About Town. If you like The New Yorker, you’ll likely enjoy About Town. If you like both history AND The New Yorker, this is definitely the book for you.