Volume 31, Number 6 · April 12, 1984
I'm the Greatest!
By Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Mayor
by Edward I. Koch, with William Rauch
Simon and Schuster, 364 pp., $17.95
A curmudgeon in the old dictionaries is 'an avaricious, grasping fellow' but in American political usage, as recorded in William Safire's Political Dictionary, is 'a likeably irascible old man...with a talent for invective.' The licensed scold has had a long life in American politics. The curmudgeon's distinguishing mark is the ability to say things offensive and outrageous enough to sink any normal politician and yet continue to delight an indulgent public that responds fondly to each new extravagance.
Review, 2124 words
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