{"product_id":"uphill-with-archie-a-sons-journey","title":"Uphill with Archie: A Son's Journey","description":"\u003cp\u003eUphill with Archie is a beautifully written and deeply involving look at the life and the world of the great literary icon  poet Archibald MacLeish  by his youngest son. Partly an homage  partly an attempt to come to terms with the man (and the legend)  Uphill with Archie speaks to all sons and daughters who have never completely resolved their feelings about powerful parents. Young William MacLeish grew up both captivated and cowed by the fame of a father who won Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry and comparable honors for his work as a lawyer  playwright  teacher  and government official. Williams mother  Ada  began her marriage as a successful concert singer in Paris but later felt compelled to give up her art for her family. When Archie was working for Henry Luce and Fortune magazine  his younger children  watched over by a governess  stayed with their grandfather in Connecticut. But it is of the time spent with his family at Uphill Farm  a beautiful old house above a Massachusetts hilltown  that MacLeish has his fondest and most telling memories: \"Archie and Ada gave me great gifts: music  the sound of the language beautifully spoken  the draw of knowledge  the arts of humor \" William writes. \"I learned to perform for them  and in time found myself addicted to getting a nice tan from Archies sun. And the more I bathed in his light  the harder I found it to go looking for my own.\" At Uphill Farm  his parents often permitted William to join their friends in the fun. The boy quickly got used to acting the adult around the likes of Gerald and Sara Murphy  John and Katey Dos Passos  Carl Sandburg  Dean and Alice Acheson  and Felix Frankfurter. He reveled in the game -- until reality hit him  and he realized that he was the least of the company. Even then  he would continue to pretend  to adapt  to reach for attention. When he pressed too hard  Ada would send him to his room. In Uphill with Archie  William MacLeish paints an indelible portrait of a privileged world  a charmed existence in which he moved from pleasing his father to making his father proud. Affectionate  moving  and marvelously evocative  it is a book sure to appeal to readers of such classic works as Calvin Tompkinss Living Well Is the Best Revenge and Susan Cheevers books about her parents  Home Before Dark and Treetops.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946255839285,"sku":"ByrdShop_0684824957","price":45.08,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780684824956_e803f7fa-f914-4696-890a-650a83cc85ce.jpg?v=1770150587","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/uphill-with-archie-a-sons-journey","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}