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Deja Reviews: Florence King All Over Again
Great writing is timeless, and so it is with Deja Reviews. Fifteen years later, five years, no matter how "old" her review, no matter how dated the topic of an essay, readers of this hearty collection will find that Miss Florence King's sharp, crafted prose still dazzles, sizzles, and edures, which is why she finds herself in the exclusive company of great American writers and humorists, such as Dorothy Parker, H. L. Mencken, and Westbrook Pegler, renowned for not suffering fools gladly.
Deja Reviews is a compilation of the book reviews and essays Miss King wrote between 1991 and 2002 for National Review and The American Spectator. It is a joy—a duty! a service!—to republish these treasured pieces...
Deja Reviews is a compilation of the book reviews and essays Miss King wrote between 1991 and 2002 for National Review and The American Spectator. It is a joy—a duty! a service!—to republish these treasured pieces...
- GenresEssays
345 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2006
46 people want to read
About the author
Florence King
20 books61 followersBorn in Washington, D.C. in 1936 to a bookish British father and a tomboy American mother, Florence King spent her childhood living with her parents, her maternal grandmother, and her grandmother's maid.
King showed talent in French, but unable to pursue it as a major at American University, she switched to a dual major of history and English. She attended the University of Mississippi for graduate school, but did not complete her M.A. degree after discovering she could make a living as a writer.
King, who lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia at the time of her death, retired in 2002, but resumed writing a monthly column for National Review in 2006. She died on January 6, 2016 at the age of 80.
King showed talent in French, but unable to pursue it as a major at American University, she switched to a dual major of history and English. She attended the University of Mississippi for graduate school, but did not complete her M.A. degree after discovering she could make a living as a writer.
King, who lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia at the time of her death, retired in 2002, but resumed writing a monthly column for National Review in 2006. She died on January 6, 2016 at the age of 80.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 15, 2012
Florence King's book reviews are worth reading whether or not you ever read the books. Because of poor health, unfortunately she has cut back on her magazine columns, but luckily for us she is still writing book reviews for National Review. Her opinions are never knee-jerk.
September 3, 2025
Florence King was an essayist and reviewer who could rival Ambrose Bierce or H.L. Mencken with her acerbic style, yet she could also write with poignancy and genuine empathy. Her “Deja Reviews” is a collection of magazine pieces published between 1991 and 2002.King’s compilation is wide-ranging, well-crafted and unrelenting.
King’s specialty is the scintillating review of a bad book, the ability to excoriate those books which exhibit the shoddy thinking underpinning the conventional wisdom in currency today. King celebrates classicism governed by realism, skepticism, objectivity, order and restraint; contrariwise, she notes that “Political liberalism and literary romanticism travel in a tandem harness of intellectual confusion and emotional excess.”
King is adept at crafting and sculpting the pithy witticism. For instance, she writes that Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's paramour) relayed to Andrew Ferguson: “Whoever said the truth will set you free was full of shit,” to which Ferguson replied, “I think that was Jesus.” Or of drunken Franklin Pierce, the Democratic standard bearer in 1852, “he was the hero of many a well-fought bottle.”
Like most compilations, this collection contains pieces that the reader will find to be of varying interest. That said, Ms. King approaches her subjects with a caustic candor.The author is a breath of fresh air.
King’s specialty is the scintillating review of a bad book, the ability to excoriate those books which exhibit the shoddy thinking underpinning the conventional wisdom in currency today. King celebrates classicism governed by realism, skepticism, objectivity, order and restraint; contrariwise, she notes that “Political liberalism and literary romanticism travel in a tandem harness of intellectual confusion and emotional excess.”
King is adept at crafting and sculpting the pithy witticism. For instance, she writes that Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's paramour) relayed to Andrew Ferguson: “Whoever said the truth will set you free was full of shit,” to which Ferguson replied, “I think that was Jesus.” Or of drunken Franklin Pierce, the Democratic standard bearer in 1852, “he was the hero of many a well-fought bottle.”
Like most compilations, this collection contains pieces that the reader will find to be of varying interest. That said, Ms. King approaches her subjects with a caustic candor.The author is a breath of fresh air.
October 5, 2009
I love Florance King! Her sarcasm is delightfull!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews