Nonconformist Conservative

McCarthy, Daniel, The American Conservative

Ralph de Toledano, 1916-2007

I NEEDED A REVIEWER for Robert K. Landers's An Honest Writer: The Life and Times of James T. Farrell. This was early 2004, and I was the assistant editor overseeing TAC's book pages. Landers's volume, about an important writer-author of the Studs Lonigan trilogy-who had an interesting political life, merited a review, but none of my literary contacts felt familiar enough with Farrell to take on the assignment. What was I to do?

I resorted to an old journalist's trick: I googled "James T. Farrell" and "conservative." Ralph de Toledano's name popped up. By then 88 years old, Toledano had known Farrell personally. ("A pleasant guy to drink with," …

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Publication information: Article title: Nonconformist Conservative. Contributors: McCarthy, Daniel - Author. Magazine title: The American Conservative. Volume: 6. Issue: 5 Publication date: March 12, 2007. Page number: 17+. © 2009 The American Conservative LLC. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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