The Way It Wasn't: From the Files of James LaughlinLavishly illustrated, The Way It Wasn't offers an intimate firsthand encounter with 20th century Modernism, from the extraordinary man who defined it for America. James Laughlinpoet, ladies' man, heir to a steel fortune, and the founder of New Directionswas still at work on his autobiography when he died at 83. He left behind personal files crammed with memories and memorabilia: in "M" he is taking Marianne Moore to Yankee games (outings captured here

only slightly visible from front

is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time

they look in the face the incredible suffering that weapons which replaced rain shower on the people of the world

and a revelatory interrogation of a world reckoning with consequences its unwitting designers are only beginning to understand

psychological trauma

x-raying our contemporary world to bizarre and troubling effect

the essays

I went to sleep thinking of horse hooves and woke up thinking of how memory informs all I do

psuedoconfessional tales of everyday life dizzily told and laced with dry humor

and mysterious disappearances ― all linked to the surrealist world of the famous Belgian painter

Bob goes to the baths

In these engrossing pages