Kirkus
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Revisiting glossy days. Carter navigates the path from his upbringing in rural Canada to foundingSpy magazine, a delightfully snarky publication perhaps most famous for labeling Donald Trump (to his indignation) as a “shortfingered vulgarian,’’ fast-tracking to a long, successful run at the helm ofVanity Fair before moving on to his current gig with the digital publicationAir Mail. But his subtitle gives the game away—Was theVanity Fair era, a skillful amalgam of celebrity journalism and investigative reporting, really a “golden age” of magazine journalism? In this admittedly enjoyable account, it seems more like a product, however well executed, of affluent times, generous pre-internet advertisers, and aspirational readers eager to feel part of a world beyond their income levels or societal status. Carter’s odyssey, surprisingly, is most engrossing when he recounts surviving freezing winters and a stint as a railroad lineman before making his way to New York, that “shimmering vessel of opportunity and reward,” where, Gatsby-like, he begins to climb the greasy pole by talking his way into a stint atTime magazine. Bored by the stultifying culture of the newsweekly, he and a colleague, Kurt Andersen, hole up to create prototypes ofSpy. “We wanted the voice,” he writes, “to be a mixture ofTime-ese from the 1940s, with its dense, fact-filled writing, and the saucy manner of London’sPrivate Eye”—andMad magazine. “We wanted to be outsiders on the ramparts picking off the big shots.’’ Mission accomplished. But asSpy’s financial fortunes foundered, Carter was wooed to take overVanity Fair and join the Establishment, gaining more recognition from the VF Oscar Party than journalism, whose halcyon age was better exemplified by Harold Ross’New Yorker or H.L. Mencken’sAmerican Mercury. Curiously, Carter begins this memoir by reciting the “Deep Throat” scoop revealing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s Watergate source. It’s solid reporting, but closer to gossip than lasting literary value. The going was good—but it appears to be gone. An entertaining look back at a life in full. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.