The Time of Our Lives: Collected Writings

Noonan (What I Saw at the Revolution), a widely read columnist for the Wall Street Journal, collects 83 of those columns and other works, most of them superb, written from 1981 to the present. When Noonan is on—which is often––her insights are acute, sharply stated, and extremely moving. She can be wildly funny, noting that the Boomer generation, when it was “faced as it grew with a choice between religious belief or existential despair, chose... marijuana.” Having grown up in modest, slightly gothic circumstances, she seems delighted to travel in powerful, elegant circles, and she laments the coarseness of contemporary America compared to the society in which she was raised. Noonan’s attempts to project a sense of humility feel strained, as do her raptures over Ronald Reagan and Jacqueline Kennedy. Nonetheless, most of her essays are captivating. She idealizes institutions and everyday attitudes that she takes to preserve and protect America’s social fabric. She supports English as a universal American language, condemns illegal immigration, and detests Wall Street greed. A 2007 piece on Hillary Clinton and the visceral unease she provokes seems especially timely. In another piece, Noonan explores Obama’s singular loneliness in office. The lasting message of this powerful collection is that the bubble that today’s politicians live in, insulated from the people they govern, uniquely threatens the American commonwealth. [em]Agent: Robert B. Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Nov.) [/em]