The Years with Ross

From iconic American humorist James
Thurber, a celebrated and poignant memoir about his years at The New Yorker with
the magazine’s unforgettable founder and longtime editor, Harold Ross

“Extremely entertaining. . . . life
at The New Yorker emerges as a lovely sort of pageant of lunacy, of practical
jokes, of feuds and foibles. It is an affectionate picture of scamps playing their
games around a man who, for all his brusqueness, loved them, took care of them,
pampered and scolded them like an irascible mother hen.” —New York Times

With a foreword by Adam Gopnik and
illustrations by James Thurber

At
the helm of America’s most influential literary magazine from 1925 to 1951,
Harold Ross introduced the country to a host of exciting talent, including Robert
Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, Ogden Nash, Peter Arno, Charles Addams, and
Dorothy Parker. But no one could have written about this irascible, eccentric genius
more affectionately or more critically than James Thurber, whose portrait of
Ross captures not only a complex literary giant but a historic friendship and a
glorious era as well. "If you get Ross down on paper," warned Wolcott
Gibbs to Thurber," nobody will ever believe it." But readers of this
unforgettable memoir will find that they do.

Offering
a peek into the lives of two American literary giants and the New York literary
scene at its heyday, The Years with Ross is a true classic, and a
testament to the enduring influence of their genius. 

"A many prismed view of the man, his time, his editorship, his writers and staff, and the growth of a provincial sheet into an internationally accepted American weekly. . . . An affirmation of a love for a man, as well as his profession, this accords full tribute, to one whom many will "never forget as long as I live", with mind as well as heart."  - Kirkus Reviews

"Superb. . . . [a] revealing portrait of Harold Wallace Ross, the unbelievable founder and editor of The New Yorker." - New York Herald Tribune

"[An] extremely entertaining memoir. . . . life at The New Yorker emerges as a lovely sort of pageant of lunacy, of practical jokes, of feuds and foibles. It is an affectionate picture of scamps playing their games around a man who, for all his brusqueness, loved them, took care of them, pampered and scolded them like an irascible mother hen." - New York Times

"It is Thurber's book The Years with Ross that every journalist should have. It chronicles the restless genius and sometimes frustrating ways of legendary New Yorker editor Harold Ross, who brought together an extraordinary cavalcade of talent (including Thurber) but somehow managed to keep his cast of divas productive. . . . Most of all, the book captures the fun of inventing the perfect magazine during journalism's heyday." - NPR

"Endlessly entertaining." - Chicago Tribune

"A perfectly wonderful reminiscence about one of the most intriguing personalities in the literary world by one of the best writers of our time."  - Los Angeles Times