Back Then
Two Literary Lives in 1950s New York
"Novelist Anne Bernays, born in 1930, and biographer Justin Kaplan, born in 1925, both natives of New York, came of age in the 1950s, when the pent-up energies of the Depression years and World War II were at flood tide. Back Then, written in two separate voices, is the candid, anecdotal account of two children of privilege, one from New York's East Side, the other from the West Side, pursuing careers in publishing and eventually leaving to write their own books. They both sought self-knowledge and realization through years of psychoanalysis. They brushed shoulders with celebrities like William Faulkner, Somerset Maugham, Marlene Dietrich, and Anatole Broyard.". "Before Bernays and Kaplan met and married, each had enjoyed the sexual and social freedom that, along with the dark shadow of McCarthyism and the Cold War, was among the distinguishing marks of the 1950s. In many other respects, the story they tell could almost as well be about an earlier era."--BOOK JACKET.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict, mental-health concerns, sexual material. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Dark tone · Measured pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-0609-5805-3
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL9240351M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More Nonfiction books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
In Defense of Globalization
by Jagdish Bhagwati
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Pin Down
by Teresa Cooper
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Prudence (Historical Romance)
by Elizabeth Bailey
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Nonfiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Samuel Beckett and the Prosthetic Body
by Yoshiki Tajiri
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Science, Technology And The German Cultural Imagination
by ENGLAND) FRAGILE TRADITION (2002 CAMBRIDGE, ENGL FRAGILE TRADITION (2002 CAMBRIDGE, David R. Midgley
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Steel Trapp
by Ridley Pearson
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.