Lives and Letters

This collection of pieces about actors, dancers, literary figures, and others shows that Gottlieb (former publisher, Alfred A. Knopf; Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt) always knows what he's writing about. He wrote many of these essays using the publication of a particular new book as its raison d'être, but the pieces quickly move beyond being simple book reviews. Gottlieb's personal experiences with some of his subjects make those pieces—on such giants as George Balanchine, Elia Kazan, Diana Vreeland (Gottlieb edited Kazan's and Vreeland's memoirs and played an important volunteer role in Ballanchine's New York City Ballet for years)—especially compelling. His pieces on Steinbeck, Kipling, and The International Encyclopedia of Dancing are models of intelligent commentary, as is his assessment of the lasting influence of F.R. Leavis's perpetually undersubscribed journal of literary criticism, Scrutiny (1932–53). Least interesting may be those where Gottlieb had no firsthand contact with the contemporary figure he is writing about, e.g., Princess Diana or California murderer Scott Peterson. Even here, though, his observations are always on the mark.