When the Going Was Good

January 1, 2025
Revisiting glossy days. Carter navigates the path from his upbringing in rural Canada to foundingSpy magazine, a delightfully snarky publication perhaps most famous for labeling Donald Trump (to his indignation) as a "shortfingered vulgarian, '' fast-tracking to a long, successful run at the helm ofVanity Fair before moving on to his current gig with the digital publicationAir Mail. But his subtitle gives the game away--Was theVanity Fair era, a skillful amalgam of celebrity journalism and investigative reporting, really a "golden age" of magazine journalism? In this admittedly enjoyable account, it seems more like a product, however well executed, of affluent times, generous pre-internet advertisers, and aspirational readers eager to feel part of a world beyond their income levels or societal status. Carter's odyssey, surprisingly, is most engrossing when he recounts surviving freezing winters and a stint as a railroad lineman before making his way to New York, that "shimmering vessel of opportunity and reward," where, Gatsby-like, he begins to climb the greasy pole by talking his way into a stint atTime magazine. Bored by the stultifying culture of the newsweekly, he and a colleague, Kurt Andersen, hole up to create prototypes ofSpy. "We wanted the voice," he writes, "to be a mixture ofTime-ese from the 1940s, with its dense, fact-filled writing, and the saucy manner of London'sPrivate Eye"--andMad magazine. "We wanted to be outsiders on the ramparts picking off the big shots.'' Mission accomplished. But asSpy's financial fortunes foundered, Carter was wooed to take overVanity Fair and join the Establishment, gaining more recognition from the VF Oscar Party than journalism, whose halcyon age was better exemplified by Harold Ross'New Yorker or H.L. Mencken'sAmerican Mercury. Curiously, Carter begins this memoir by reciting the "Deep Throat" scoop revealing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's Watergate source. It's solid reporting, but closer to gossip than lasting literary value. The going was good--but it appears to be gone. An entertaining look back at a life in full.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2025

Carter, longtime editor of Vanity Fair, has written a chronicle of his life in publishing that is a microcosm of the last 50 years of upscale American magazines. Opening with an excellent chapter on working for the Canadian railway as a teenager, the book details how he left college and started The Canadian Review in 1973. He wrote for Time and Life before cocreating the satirical and biting Spy in the 1980s, eventually becoming the very successful editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years. He chronicles the industry and its people with deep love and affection, and it's a story of discovering one's passion, persistence, and undeniably being in the right place at the right time. A book about magazines and publishing requires a healthy amount of name-dropping, and Carter does not disappoint. As one would expect, his writing is engaging and entertaining, yet while there is absolutely nothing wrong with being successful or excelling in one's field, the book often feels like it was written for his wealthy friends. One feels a certain type of assumed privilege has always surrounded him. VERDICT An engaging book for lovers of glossy magazines and the people who make them.--Peter Thornell

Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2025
Carter regales readers with the story of how he became editor of Vanity Fair in 1992 and all that ensued up to his departure in 2017 in this rollicking memoir and heartfelt paean to the big, glossy, influential magazines of yore. After working odd jobs in his native Canada, including as a lineman, and struggling in school, Carter found his calling in college when he happened upon The Canadian Review. Humorously self-deprecating and charming, Carter traces his subsequent path to Time and Life, his gutsy launch of the venomously satirical Spy magazine, and his clever revitalization of the New York Observer, which inspired Si Newhouse of Cond� Nast to recruit him for Vanity Fair. Carter's initial reception was chilly, but with deep coffers and his unerring gift for innovation and finding talent, he choreographed a spectacular makeover. Carter's zestful accounts of his editorial visions and their implementation are fascinating, as are his vivid profiles of writers, photographers, and Hollywood stars. Carter's delight in the chaos, effort, stress, and exhilaration of his editorships generate the effervescence and depth of this enthusiastically detailed chronicle.

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