Norman Podhoretz Critical Essay | Critical Review by Albert Bermel

Critical Review by Albert Bermel

SOURCE: Bermel, Albert. “Talking It Up.” New Leader 51, no. 3 (29 January 1968): 18-20.

In the following review, Bermel extols Podhoretz's candor about his success in Making It, applauding the author's accessible use of vernacular prose.

Norman Podhoretz has not lived a life; he has been inhabited by a career. In Making It he chronicles his rise from Brooklyn schoolboy and son of a milkman all the way up to editor of Commentary. Under his guidance, the magazine has increased its circulation. The White House was alerted by his essay, “My Negro Problem—and Ours,” consulted him in person, and now has a program for tackling Podhoretz's Negro problem. The most modish people in New York ask him to their parties; he has actually been a guest at the home of Philip Rahv. If he has not made it to the top of the career pile, who has?

In his...
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