The Gay Talese Reader
 LA Times Book Review
"This stellar anthology reminds us that Talese's early work in Esquire raised
the magazine article to the level of an art form. The Gay Talese Reader
reacquaints us with a masterful New Journalism pioneer--one who, unlike many
of his peers, insisted on remaining the invisible if ever-present
observer...Each piece is marked by Talese's elegant style, exhaustive
research, skilled use of dialogue, scene-by-scene construction and, above
all, his unerring eye for the telling detail. What Talese does better than
just about anyone is hang out, observe and listen...Talese is too modest,
though--or disingenuous--when he contends that he was essentially pounding
the streets, wearing out shoe leather. He is a reporter, true enough, but one
with the eyes and ears of an artist. This anthology puts the gloss back on
the term "New Journalism."
Atlantic Monthly
"In this book you'll find some of the best American prose of the second half
of the twentieth century...Talese's premier contribution to American letters
is his astonishing magazine articles, largely profiles written for Esquire in
the mid-1960s...Talese and Tom Wolfe are the great pioneers of New
Journalism, but although the style, approach, and structure of Talese's
pieces was radical, his superlatively smooth writing had none of Wolfe's
attention-grabbing swagger, and it perfectly suited his role as invisible
observer...Pieces on Sinatra and DiMaggio are essential to understanding not
merely two American icons but the gender relations, family life, popular
culture, and political style of the American Century...Buy this intelligently
edited assemblage."
Wall Street Journal
What is striking is how self-effacing Mr. Talese can be, sketching in the
telling detail without putting himself in the portrait-frame or pushing a
theme with auteur-like emphasis."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Groundbreaking writing that stands the test of time...Many of the pieces
collected in this reader date to the 1960s. Yet every one of them seems
fresh."
Publishers Weekly
"If there is one fault in this wonderful and long overdue collection of
nonfiction master Talese's magazine writings, it's that there is simply not
enough. The stories here are shining examples of a time in publishing history
when magazine writing was an art form and Talese its Michelangelo. This
reader is a book to come back to again and again."
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