A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles
ISBN10: 0374515018
ISBN13: 9780374515010
Trade Paperback
256 Pages
$20.00
CA$27.00
Now recognized as a master of the verbal portrait, John McPhee first collected this gallery of his biographical miniatures in 1968. These short pieces, which originally appeared in The New Yorker, concern a diverse group of people. Rendered in McPhee's cool and revealing style, the profiles make for "an absolutely absorbing book" (Denver Post).
Reviews
Praise for A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles
"McPhee writes as well as anyone in America. His prose is simple and lyrical, his images are sharply focused. And here are five profiles that prove it. His subjects: Thomas P. F. Hoving, art historian, sometime political influence, former floorwalker; the late Euell Gibbons, famous forager of edible wild plants and author of Stalking the Wild Asparagus; Carroll Brewster of the intrepid team of M.I.T. Fellows, in the Sudan; Robert Twynam, tender of the lawn at Wimbledon; and Temple Fielding, mercurial and influential author of the popular travel guides to Europe."—Clarence Peterson, Chicago Tribune
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles, A
ONE
A Roomful of Hovings
1967
FIFTH AVENUE
Each day, nearly all day, Thomas P. F. Hoving stood somewhere near the Short Portly rack in the...
About the author
John McPhee
RELATED
The Mind of John McPhee: Feature Article, The New York Times Magazine