An entertaining look at the Algonquin Round Table, its members, the hotel, and the city of New York during the 1920s, this book reads exactly like every city bus tour I ever took while I was a college student studying abroad. The author bombards you with a ton of information (some factual, some probably not so factual), lots of anecdotes and lore, and lots of repartee with the occasional joke thrown in for good measure. Most of it will be forgotten; a few tidbits will be remembered. But, who really cares? It was a fun time, and that’s all that really matters.

The book does have a few glaring flaws. One, it is unnecessarily repetitive. How many times do we need to hear the same information about Harold Ross and Jane Grant’s marriage? (I lost count after four!) Two, it is one of those innumerable books written about 19th and 20th century people from the pen of someone with an inflated sense of 21st century superiority. (Eye roll.) And, finally, the author’s credentials as an authority on the subject are negligible.

The bio on the back cover describes the author as an “independent historian”…I have no clue what that actually means. Is it simply a professional historian who has no official institutional affiliation? Or, is it—as I suspect—a euphemism for an uneducated, unqualified not-really-a-historian? Given the rest of the biographical information provided, it seems to be a case of the latter; this is someone who just fancies himself a historian because the label sounds more impressive & trustworthy than plain ‘Dorothy Parker enthusiast & tour operator’.

Overall, this book offers a worthwhile glimpse at the Algonquin Round Table and Jazz Age New York that will appeal widely to general audiences. However, it should not be considered as an authoritative text for serious academic research or source material. ( )

An enlightening overview of the exploits of New York City's literary, theater and newspaper royalty from the end of WWI to the beginning of WWII. The Algonquin Round Table, known by the inner circle as The Vicious Circle, formed in 1919 and included such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Harpo Marx and Robert Benchley, and the local press clamored to publish their every word.

While the story of the Table takes center stage, the books also spends time going over the beginnings of the now venerable New Yorker Magazine. Also of interest, Fitzgerald meticulously chronicles the lives and (mostly) deaths of the members after WWII. I enjoyed this look at New York's early Avant Garde, and learned a great deal about New York City during this period. Highly recommended. ( )