Norman Podhoretz: The Longest Journey in the World My double life between Brooklyn and Manhattan—grit and glamour, loyalty and betrayal—nearly tore me apart. It also saved me.
“Those parties were intimate—10 to 15 guests, every one of them famous, every one of them sought after. It was irresistible,” shares Norman Podhoretz in a conversation with The Free Press. (Retro AdArchives/Alamy)
At The Free Press, we firmly believe that everyone, for a few days each year, needs to slow down, switch off, and hit the road—and what better time to do it than the last week of August? So this week, instead of The Front Page, we’re running Journeys, a new series about the trips that change us. Yesterday, the philosopher Agnes Callard wrote about her summer riding a motorcycle. Today, Norman Podhoretz, the legendary former editor in chief of Commentary magazine, lifts the veil on his famous journey from the slums of Brooklyn to the peak of Manhattan’s intellectual aristocracy. Enjoy! —The Editors
As told to Jillian Lederman: This article is featured in Culture and Ideas. Sign up here to get an update every time a new piece is published. “One of the longest journeys in the world is the journey from Brooklyn to Manhattan.” I wrote that line in 1967, and for better or worse, it has been quoted back to me ever since. I wrote it because it was true. Fifty-eight years later, it still is...
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