Bohemians, Bootleggers, Flappers, and Swells - by Graydon Carter & David Friend (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Offering readers an inebriating swig from the great cocktail shaker of the Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age, the age of Gatsby--Bohemians, Bootleggers, Flappers, and Swells showcases unforgettable writers in search of how to live well in a changing era.

Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter introduces these fabulous pieces written between 1913 and 1936, when the magazine published a Murderers' Row of the world's leading literary lights, including:

- F. Scott Fitzgerald on what a magazine should be
- Clarence Darrow on equality
- E. E. Cummings on Calvin Coolidge
- D. H. Lawrence on women
- Djuna Barnes on James Joyce
- John Maynard Keynes on the collapse in money value
- Dorothy Parker on a host of topics, from why she hates actresses to why she hasn't married

Review Quotes

The New York Times
"When Graydon Carter is in escapist mode, one of the places he goes to is New York in the 1920s.... In Bohemians, Bootleggers, Flappers, & Swells: The Best of Early Vanity Fair, Mr. Carter, the magazine's current editor, introduces readers to his predecessor Frank Crowninshield, and the incredible cast of writers he assembled."

The New Yorker
"Pieces [that] are at once of their moment and timeless."

Associated Press
"This is a book as a box of chocolates....And the fun comes from the variety."

Publishers Weekly (starred):
"This volume epitomizes the idea of modernity in American cultural life before the Second World War."

Kirkus Reviews
"A remarkable range to the pieces....Whether read from cover to cover or dipped into occasionally, this collection serves as a fine primer to one magazine's contribution to a golden age of American magazine writing."

Library Journal:
"Reading this compilation of writings published in Vanity Fair from the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s is like sampling a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day: a delicious confection of satire, poetry, biographical sketches, humorous pieces, and thought-provoking commentary."

Booklist
"These delightful period pieces reflecting the social mores of their time hold up in their innovation, style, and concern about modern life nearly a century later."

About the Author

Graydon Carter has been the editor of Vanity Fair since 1992. He lives in New York City.

David Friend is Vanity Fair's editor of creative development.