Birds of America.

MCCARTHY, Mary.

Item Number: 142434

New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1971.

First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To John, with wishes for the future Mary McCarthy.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket drawing by Peter Vos. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph of Mary McCarthy by Jack Nisberg. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise box. An exceptional presentation.

Peter Levi, a shy and sensitive American teenager, moves to Paris to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War, where he is determined to live a life in harmony with his own idealistic views. But the world is changing at breakneck pace, with nuclear war looming abroad and racial tensions simmering at home. Before long, Peter's naïve illusions are shattered, as he finds himself an unwilling participant in an era of extraordinary change. "An absorbing novel about a young man's voyage into adulthood, enlivened by Mary McCarthy's needling wit" (Hilary Mantel).