The Last Fine Time. This item is unavailable.The Last Fine Time

A pivotal moment in history comes to life in this portrait, starting in 1947, of the Wenzeks, bar owners for 50 years, of Buffalo, a city aspiring to greatness, and of urban America when it began to alter beyond recognition

"[Klinkenborg] has wrapped a profound social history around, of all things, a family-owned taproom in Buffalo, NY. Researching both the city and the family . . . Klinkenborg sensitively addresses the shifts in consciousness with passing generations. Men and women born during the baby-boom years will recognize their own parents in this poignant social portrait."--Joseph F. Keppler "Seattle Times "

"[A] lovingly poetic and gitty portrait of his father-in-law's bar just outside Buffalo, before its death by thoroughway and sprawl."--Reamy Jansen"Bloomsbury Review" (11/01/2005)

"The Wenzeks' history joins what is finally the great American story, that of how the old world came to, and changed, the new. It's a worthy subject for a writer of Klinkenborg's talent, and he does it justice."--Robert Wilson "USA Today "

"Brings an era to life. . . . All at once, a small, bygone portion of America becomes so real that we seem to be not so much reading about it as drawing it forth from our own memories."
--Anne Tyler "Boston Globe "

"Wittily lyrical. . . . The shining prose of The Last Fine Time radiates both in space and in time."
--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt "New York Times "

The Wenzeks history joins what is finally the great American story, that of how the old world came to, and changed, the new. It s a worthy subject for a writer of Klinkenborg s talent, and he does it justice. --Robert Wilson "USA Today ""

[Klinkenborg] has wrapped a profound social history around, of all things, a family-owned taproom in Buffalo, NY. Researching both the city and the family . . . Klinkenborg sensitively addresses the shifts in consciousness with passing generations. Men and women born during the baby-boom years will recognize their own parents in this poignant social portrait. --Joseph F. Keppler "Seattle Times ""