CONFESSIONS OF A DILETTANTE

An unmusty must for American culture watchers, Mr. Lynes is that rarity among social history/arts commentators--often amused but not contemptuous, determined but not insistent, serious but not sobersided. This collection of articles will slide in and lock with The Tastemakers, his 1954 success. In an age of increasing specialization, the sanity of the expert amateur is brought to bear on current standards in the lively arts and the graphic arts. Some personal travel pieces hurt the end of the book without ruining it. Mr. Lynes did the definitive discussion of the highbrow, lowbrow and middlebrow (it's included) and he writes for the edification and satisfaction of the intellectually upward mobile middlebrow, a slow but solidly sure audience for this.