Ringside picture of the '20's in publishing, the theatre, the arts, as ex-publisher Friede (from Boni & Liveright, Knopf, Covici-Friede), ex-theatrical angel, dabbler in radio, sports, flying, censorship, writes of his apprenticeship. With the crash went the world he knew, the security he took for granted. Those years saw the emergence of big literary names, Fitzgeraldish snobbery, the well-heeled playboy, firsts in the arts- a spiral through money, time, marriage, ventures of various sorts. Friede is commendable in a cautious reticence, entertaining in clever profiling of his publishing and cultural pursuits, of his associates, in his affixing of a period as it applied to his arrogant generation. There is fun in this for those who parallel his memories, who recognize the idiosyncrasies, the loud noises of the avant-garde, the contemporary exhibitionism. Worthwhile publishing history balances what might have been a rewrite of other reminiscences, that gives this a trade-news value.