Born in 1915 to poor immigrant parents, Alfred Kazin grew up in the intensely Jewish Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. An insecure, lonely, and isolated child who stuttered until he began to publish at age nineteen, Kazin graduated from City College and Columbia, and four years later published his first book, On Native Grounds, a history of American literature that received tremendous acclaim both because of its brilliance and its author’s precocity. Best known for his book A Walker in the City, an evocative account of Kazin’s Brownsville youth, and a central text in American – Jewish writing, in his personal life Kazin was plagued by stormy interpersonal relationships and troubled marriages (three). In his later years, he focused on his Jewish roots, resulting in his book New York Jew.
Cook covers Kazin’s interesting and complicated life, including his writing, teaching posts world-wide, and friendships with famous writers and public figures, in this well researched and lively book. Black and white photos and an extensive index round out an engaging and useful account of the life of this influential writer-critic and one of the great American men of letters.
