Life Sketches - Softcover

Written over a 50-year span, this collection contains 18 profiles of the well known and the obscure. Hersey skillfully presents, for example, a day in the life of Bernard Baruch; John F. Kennedy's PT 109 adventure; and a lively personal encounter with Harry Truman. Just as probing and insightful are his profiles of the less familiar--a black Civil Rights activist, a missionary, and a widow threatened by flood. Although many of these pieces originally appeared in The New Yorker , the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Plain and unadorned, this effortlessly--or so it seems--captures the inner essence of its subjects. For most libraries.
- Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll. Lib., Burlington, Vt.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Profiled here are notables, including Sinclair Lewis, JFK and Alfred Knopf, and such unknowns as a brave widow who survived a flood and an illiterate man who learned to read and write. Although some essays disappoint, PW found that ``Hersey always writes clearly and unpretentiously, and the best of these pieces are very superior journalism indeed.'' Photos.

Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information, Inc.