Russell Baker Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Virginia Kirkus' Service

Critical Essay by Virginia Kirkus' Service

Russell Baker, a New York Times Washington correspondent, gets a lot off his chest [in An American in Washington] writing about Washington as a tribal entity, filled with bizarre customs. Considerable information is packed into chapters satirizing Society, Bureaucrats, Diplomats, Congress, the Presidency, etc. But the style is difficult, overcrowded with metaphors, and only fairly successful in its humor…. A sketch book, in which the individual scenes are sharper than the end view, and more satisfying in its occasional vignettes and insights. (pp. 765-66).

A review of "An American in Washington," in Virginia Kirkus' Service, Vol. XXIX, No. 16, August 15, 1961, pp. 765-66.