Back Then - by Anne Bernays & Justin Kaplan (Paperback)

About the Book

Written in two separate voices, here is Bernays and Kaplan's double memoir: a candid, anecdotal account of two children of privilege, one from New York's East Side, the other from the West Side, who came of age in the transformative 1950s. Photos throughout.

From the Back Cover

Novelist Anne Bernays and biographer Justin Kaplan -- both native New Yorkers -- came of age in the 1950s, when the pent-up energies of the Depression years and World War II were at flood tide. Written in two separate voices, Back Then is thecandid, anecdotal account of these two children of privilege -- one from New York's East Side, the other from the West Side -- pursuing careers in publishing and eventually leaving to write their own books.

Infused with intelligence and charm, Back Then is an elegant reflection on the transformative years in the lives of two young people and New York City. Marked by their youthful passions, this double memoir marries the authors' distinct literary styles with a riveting narrative that captures the density and texture of private, social, and working life in the 1950s.

Review Quotes

"A luminous memoir about their mid-century youth...a lovely duet." - Time magazine
"A duet of alternating narratives...the authors pool their sharpest observations to recapture this decade in this love letter to a place and time they still hold dear." - San Francisco Chronicle