Clearly Dwight Garner is of two minds about Mad as Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right by Dominic Sandbrook. He praises Sandbrook’s prose but is less than complimentary about his history.
But what I thought was interesting was the backhanded compliment that is his conclusion:
“Mad as Hell” is frisky and intelligent; it’s among the most readable histories of the 1970s I’ve come across. At moments, though, you worry that the talented Mr. Sandbrook was already composing his next book in his head while he typed out this one.
Somehow I think the blurb will include the first phrase but not the latter …
