While Rome Burns is a book collecting some of the 20th century American critic Alexander Woollcott's writings for the New Yorker [1] and other magazines. The title is a reference to the popular legend that Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. The book was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1934. Vincent Starrett hailed it as one of the 52 "Best Loved Books of the Twentieth Century". [2] Woollcott promoted the book on his radio show and his pointed critiques, quips, and asides gained enough of an audience to make it a bestseller. [2] The New York Times reviewed it. [3] The book includes accounts of his travels to Japan and Russia. [4]
A sequel, Long, Long Ago, was published after Woollcott's death in 1943. [5]
While Rome Burns is a book collecting some of the 20th century American critic Alexander Woollcott's writings for the New Yorker [1] and other magazines. The title is a reference to the popular legend that Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. The book was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1934. Vincent Starrett hailed it as one of the 52 "Best Loved Books of the Twentieth Century". [2] Woollcott promoted the book on his radio show and his pointed critiques, quips, and asides gained enough of an audience to make it a bestseller. [2] The New York Times reviewed it. [3] The book includes accounts of his travels to Japan and Russia. [4]
A sequel, Long, Long Ago, was published after Woollcott's death in 1943. [5]