The Years with Ross, a memoir by James Thurber about Harold Ross, the founding editor of the New Yorker magazine.
Fascinating. He had all these brilliant literary and art folks at his disposal, but had little cultivated literary or artistic
taste. He was a newspaper man from Colorado, but he had a clear vision of what he wanted the magazine to be, despite
not always understanding the material he included. He'd ask others to explain it to him. The magazine was so good, it
could command the best talent around. Ross was brilliant at maintaining a focus of power in his little world, even though
he'd avoid meeting staffers or talking to them much. Thurber, who grew progressively more blind over the years, was
an exception, and was one of the writers who made Ross able to do what he did, although Thurber has a more modest
view of himself. Ross was swindled out of a large amount of money by a personal secretary, and he had a serious gambling
habit and couldn't stay married, but his magazine prospered and went on after he died and is with us today, still drawing
top talent.