PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewArthur Junior\'s memoir reads best when it revisits such major intellectual shifts and demonstrates how history is always contemporary history -- in his case an obvious effort to explain and justify the innovations of the New Deal. And his book is most instructive in proving that such revisionist argument is both inevitable and constructive, producing endless debates about liberal society\'s endless yearnings for reform ... Schlesinger\'s history of himself is rich with other historical insights, candid (though not particularly introspective) about his own misjudgments, disappointingly stingy with his domestic and inner lives and downright tiresome in his excavations of journal trivia, press clips and encomiums. Fortunately, the excesses are relieved by generous doses of gossip, bursts of self-mockery and rewarding riffs on a great many subjects.
