The Troubled Air

by Irwin Shaw

Dell Publishing Co. New York. 1951. 

509 pages. ISBN 0-440-18608-0
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Communist witch hunt of the 1950s takes its toll on the entertainment industry in this gripping story with believable, nuanced characters and nicely drawn color about life in post-war New York. Shaw is a first-rate writer (the sort of fellow I'd like to be), and he tells a good tale here, as he did in The Young Lions  and Lucy Crown.  

In The Troubled Air, Shaw gives us a whole cast of secondary characters that are interesting and well developed, even if you despise some of them. But there's more. He also has something larger to say about integrity and principles, and the agonizing conflicts public figures faced during the Red scare. No doubt that's because Shaw himself was blacklisted during the Red scare.  

I can't wait to read more of Shaw's work. He reminds me of Herman Wouk, which is not surprising, since they come from the same city and the same era. I came to both authors by the same road: my father, who was the same sort of reader I am, and had their books around the house.