Breaking Bones

The subtitle, A Political Memoir, correctly describes the emphasis of Norman Podhoretz’s new work, although it is as well a continuation of his earlier Making It. That book scandalized “the family” (Podhoretz’s milieu) because it revealed that New York Jewish intellectuals strive for prestige, power, and money—for success—as much as other mortals do. (People do so even in socialist societies; but don’t tell.) This time the Podhoretz “family” will be more upset by his political than by his psychological honesty, although the latter is prominent.

Podhoretz’s brutal candor compares favorably with the maudlin haze in which Alfred Kazin, in New York Jew, shrouds his early days. And, unlike Kazin, Podhoretz does not caricature those who did not applaud him, or aggrandize those who did. Indeed, contrary to what early reviewers had led me to expect, there is no malice in the book, which if anything is too judicious. There a-re, however, some deft, even moving, portraits of semi-public figures, such as Lionel Trilling and Philip Rahv, and of lesser characters, such as the publisher Jason Epstein. But Podhoretz’s main subject is the political education of Norman Podhoretz. That subject is interesting not only because Podhoretz is interesting, but because he and “the family” did gain considerable influence over the mind of our country and over its policies.

EH

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Ernest van den Haag

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The subtitle, A Political Memoir, correctly describes the emphasis of Norman Podhoretz’s new work, although it is as well a continuation of his earlier Making It. That book scandalized “the family” (Podhoretz’s milieu) because it revealed that New York Jewish intellectuals strive for prestige, power, and money—for success—as much as other mortals do. (People do so even in socialist societies; but don’t tell.) This time the Podhoretz “family” will be more upset by his political than by his psychological honesty, although the latter is prominent.

Podhoretz’s brutal candor compares favorably with the maudlin haze in which Alfred Kazin, in New York Jew, shrouds his early days. And, unlike Kazin, Podhoretz does not caricature those who did not applaud him, or aggrandize those who did. Indeed, contrary to what early reviewers had led me to expect, there is no malice in the book, which if anything is too judicious. There a-re, however, some deft, even moving, portraits of semi-public figures, such as Lionel Trilling and Philip Rahv, and of lesser characters, such as the publisher Jason Epstein. But Podhoretz’s main subject is the political education of Norman Podhoretz. That subject is interesting not only because Podhoretz is interesting, but because he and “the family” did gain considerable influence over the mind of our country and over its policies.