BOOK REVIEW Max Perkins:Editor of Genius by Scott Berg

"I have known peoplewho were considered pillars of strength and loved to be leaned on, but Max (Perkins) poured strength into people and made them stand on their own feet"

These word at his death by Elizabeth Lemmon, a longtime friend, to his widow sums up Perkin's impact on those around him.


I found this book at The Ram's Horn Thrift Store in Boone, North Carolina less than 100 yards from the campus of Appilachian State University ASU.in a book section that rivaled some libraries. Perkins was known to me having read Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawling., so I started reading. What a feast. Upon coming to North Carolina, I had al ready picked up Thomas Wolfe "Look Homeward Angel" but had not really started it. I thought reading a little of the "back story" might help me tackle the "monumental North Carolian" my old friend Vincent and spoken of at length. I was not let down. Berg's portrait has all the twist and turns of a good read. Though it took me nearly a month to consume the 570 pages, I was not disappointed.