The Twilight of the Intellectuals: Culture and Politics in the Era of the Cold War

by Hilton Kramer

In these provocative and engaging writings, Mr. Kramer explores, in effect, the intellectual history of the cold war and its divisive impact on our politics and culture. Tracing the critical debate over communism and modernism, he surveys the writers who were in the forefront of that debate and the issues that animated their criticism and controversies. An honest, unsparing, and often devastating analysis. —Kirkus Reviews

384 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 1999

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems curmudgeonly only 20 pages in...

A collection of Kramer's book reviews and criticism about the NY Intellectuals. The review of Lillian Hellman was hilarious; his piece on Mary McCarthy semi-accurate; his memoir about Josephine Herbst touching. A decent read, though I skimmed through reviews of people who I was not familiar with. My overall impression was that Kramer was never as famous as the people he was writing about, so his criticism is unnecessarily snarky and unforgiving at times.

[Karyn]

Hilton Kramer died today. He led the charge against both Philistines and nihilists in the art world and culture in general. His NYT and New Criterion pieces are wonderful.