McGinnis Nine-Nine: “The Way We Live Now”

Part of a celebration of Robert McGinnis’ XCIXth birthday.



The Way We Live Now, by Warren Miller (Crest, 1959).

Although his name no longer sparks the recognition it once did, Miller (1921-1966) was known in the mid-20th century for his novels exploring issues of race. As the National Book Foundation Web site explains, his most famous work, 1959’s The Cool World, focused on “a youth gang called the ‘Crocadiles’ in 1950s Harlem, New York City.

Narrated in the first person by the protagonist and Crocadile member Duke, The Cool World recounts the story of Duke and his gang’s adventures and travails as they deal with street life in the ghetto and a rival gang called the Wolves. Drug dealing, fights, prostitution, guns, and gambling are rampant throughout this engaging, slim novel that rarely has a dull moment. Written entirely in African-American street vernacular of the time, Miller—a Caucasian academic—accomplished a great, and mostly unnoticed, linguistic and narrative feat with this novel.

None other than James Baldwin applauded The Cool World as “one of the finest novels about Harlem that had ever come my way.” That forceful yarn was later among the finalists for the 1960 National Book Award, and in 1963 it was adapted for the big screen.

The Way We Live Now, first published in January 1958 by Little, Brown, made less of a splash than its predecessor. However, it did turn some readers’ heads, being described, by Louisiana’s old Lafayette Observer, as “Peyton Place with a New York setting,” and winning the then-36-year-old Miller favorable comparisons to J.D. Salinger. It’s the sad story of advertising executive Lionel Aldridge, who—feeling restless in his middle years—walks out on his wife and daughter, only to embark on a string of ill-fated love affairs. Miller “records it [all] with a telltale accuracy and more than a little sympathy,” opined Kirkus Reviews.

A film based on The Way We Live Now, starring Nicholas Pryor, Joanna Miles, and a young Linda Blair, premiered in 1970.

Warren Miller went on to produce additional books, including the novels Love Me Little (released in 1962 as by “Amanda Vail”) and The Siege of Harlem (1964), and three children’s works he co-authored with cartoonist Edward Sorel. He also reportedly “doctored into publishable health” Return to Peyton Place, a 1959 sequel to Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place (1956). And he did time as literary editor for The Nation magazine. Miller died of lung cancer at age 44.

In addition to painting the cover, shown above, of the 1959 edition of The Way We Live Now (see his signature overlaid by the author’s byline?), Robert McGinnis was responsible for the illustration fronting the 1963 paperback version of Miller’s Flush Times.