A collection of autobiography, political commentary, and literary criticism of the most genuine sort, these essays begin with Doctorow’s memoirs as a young writer and end with sharp commentary on the gathering cynicism in the American soul post-9/11, one of the few national eras not yet addressed in Doctorow’s novels. The chapters of this short book are bracing and essential and in the beginning offer a glimpse of the writer as a boy, already flexing his formidable imagination.
—Lacy Crawford
What happened was this: our high school journalism teacher ordered us to go out into the world and conduct an interview. I threw myself into the assignment, exercising initiative, working hard, and I turned in an interview with the stage doorman at Carnegie Hall.
