Nonfiction

Journals: 1952-2000
By Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., edited by Andrew and Stephen Schlesinger
Penguin

Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s sometimes stirring, occasionally sad, and often sardonic writings across the five decades from Harry Truman to George Bush form a labor-intensive public works project for his fellow historians and biographers. The work is both gossipy and profound, as befits a prize-winning writer who doubled as a longtime Democratic policy adviser. It is always candid, never dull.

—Michael Kenney / Globe Correspondent

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