Of the writing of books and articles about the history of the New York intellectuals there appears to be no end. Every day now brings its expected parcel of new reading matter (if not exactly new information) on the arguments which once raged in the pages of Partisan Review, Commentary, Encounter, and sundry other small-circulation journals, and in the personal histories of the principal protagonists in a story that must be as familiar—in some quarters at least—as the history of the Kennedys. How many times, after all, does the saga of City College in the Thirties or of Partisan’s break with the Communist Party or of the turns and counter-turns in Commentary’s political outlook have to be recounted before we have been made to feel that the subject is exhausted and should now be retired? Is there really anything new to be learned from or about this remarkable chapter in American history?

Apparently there is. Certainly there is no shortage of writers who think so, and more and more of them are coming forward to stake their claims and offer their views. And while there are grounds for doubting that very many of them will have much to tell us that we don’t already know, this does not mean that the story has been adequately told or that the lessons to be learned from it have been clearly understood. Far from it. Much remains to be explained and accounted for. Certain members of