Boys’ Club
The public intellectuals who celebrated individualism and moral action—men like Trilling, Kazin, Mailer, and Auden—often failed to live up to their own ideals.
Matthew Adams is a writer and critic. He contributes to a number of publications, including the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Spectator, the Telegraph, the TLS, and Literary Review.
The public intellectuals who celebrated individualism and moral action—men like Trilling, Kazin, Mailer, and Auden—often failed to live up to their own ideals.