Ted Morgan (1932–2023)

All things French interest me. At least that's what I thought. It turns out that all that French history didn't really interest me. But the second half of the book made up for it. When de Gramont began to talk about food, clothing, social history, sex and sexual relations, marriage, adultery, feminism, money, and cafes, I was hooked and didn't want to put the book down. Reading about the institution of the french concierge and the general attribute of distrust explained much of why those women in the Inspector Maigret books had the attitude they had. His discussion of marriage and adultery made all those French books and films and attitudes you hear about related to their political leaders on the news understandable. Adultery, he says, is what the French believe makes marriage possible -- bearable. Written in 1969, I wish he would write an update.… (more)

This book changed my life, as did Camille Paglia's "Sexual Personae" when I first read it 19 years ago. "Literary Outlaw" is a great window onto the post-WWII-beatnik culture--specifically the friends & people constituting Burroughs' Columbia University / Times Square NYC / Mexico City / Tangiers / Paris / London and again and finally New York City communities--in the 40's and 50's & beyond. Thus this text provides necessary background info missing from "The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1945-1959" (which I also highly recommend). I also learned via "Literary Outlaw" that Burroughs was very interested in magic and/or black magic, of which he was often a practitioner. Subsequently, this interest in magic ties into the dream world / dream time origins (where morality is suspended) of Burroughs' writing. Ted Morgan deconstructs Burroughs with fantastic and fascinating insight--Morgan is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist & experienced biographer, having written 3 other biographies covering more mainstream public figures. PS--The chapter in "Literary Outlaw" dealing with the demise and slow suicide of Burrough's incredibly self-destructive son Billy was heartbreaking and heart-wrenching! It killed me! In fact, it was so heavy it that I could only deal with it in stages.… (more)

Of all the presidents before my own time, except Lincoln, I thought I knew and understood Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ted Morgan's provocative and finely balanced biography has shown me I was wrong. In it, FDR becomes far more than the mere colossus bestriding the mid-twentieth century he had always seemed to me, revealing himself as a richly complex man of base hungers, crass manipulations, and magnificent statesmanship. There's something here to surprise everyone, I think, from liberal worshipers to conservative antagonists to everything Roosevelt is believed to have been. The programs he initiated during the greatest financial crisis in American history altered the political and social landscape of the country in ways that have not reverted since. That he almost single-handedly created the social safety net has made him anathema to the rock-ribbed team, but the great revelation to me was how much of what he did was in direct service of capitalism and its survival. Morgan puts the lie to the notion that Roosevelt worked for, or allowed, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and makes a substantial effort to admit FDR into the army of those who gave their lives for the country during the war. All in all, for all the disillusionments that liberals will find here, for all the surprises conservatives may find, this is a major biography of one of the preeminent men of modern times, and the development of a rather spoiled young man into one of America's most selfless statesmen is a story well worth reading.… (more)

Jay Lovestone, who is largely forgotten today, led an extraordinary life – much of it in the shadows. He was one of the founders of the Communist Party in the US, and rose to become its general secretary by the late 1920s. He survived the various faction fights in the Communist International until 1929, when he bet on the wrong horse. In supporting Bukharin against Stalin, Lovestone very nearly signed his own death warrant. He managed to escape from Soviet Russia and returned to the US, no longer having a political home. For a decade or so, he and few hundred supporters tried their best to curry favour with the Stalinists and be readmitted to the ranks of the Party. They failed, despite doing things like declaring the Moscow show trials to be free and fair. By the time Stalin and Hitler had signed their 1939 non-aggression pact, Lovestone knew that his time as a Communist was finished. He was recruited by David Dubinsky, the leader of one of America’s largest unions, to run international labour work, including building support for the US entering the war on the Allied side. Lovestone continued in that role, as the head of the American labour movement’s international work, for some three decades. His main job – indeed his only job – was to fight against the Communists that had previously been his comrades. Lovestone used the tactics of the Stalinists against the Stalinists. He was manipulative, deceitful and utterly ruthless. And once he started the work, he never looked back. He died an embittered and lonely man. Ted Morgan tells the story well, though he has a tendency to bounce around a bit and sometimes it’s hard to pick up the thread of Lovestone’s life.… (more)