A review by ralovesbooks
About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made by Ben Yagoda

3.0

Would recommend: Yes, but only to someone who is really interested

I know, could I be any more wishy-washy? I think someone who is very invested in the history of The New Yorker would enjoy this book; it's incredibly well-researched, and knowing the background story makes the current magazine make a lot of sense. But for those who prefer a less, ah, dense telling, this book is not for you, and that's okay. There are a lot of books out there chronicling people's experiences with this publication, so I don't think it's a big deal.

I loved reading about the beginning stages of the magazine, but the last quarter of the book was rough for me. The entire book is pretty dense (it would take me a very long time to read just one page, and I could only go for ten pages at a time without feeling a strain), so that's a struggle, but the ending part was about the turmoil in changing editors. Dealing with the difficult of the text itself along with difficult content was a little much for me.

Overall, though, it was enjoyable, informative, and engaging for me. But, then, I am a big nerd.