Realtor and Realist

Publicly regarded as right-wing, Eastman defends Dewey against conservative critics but also suspects his former teacher of mistaking the true method of arriving at the truth with the truth itself. Alienating his lover Florence Norton, he marries social worker Yvette Szekely in 1958. He chafes under the “slavery” imposed on him by Reader’s Digest but continues to work for the magazine and develops a new interest in animal studies. Now calling himself a “libertarian conservative,” Max withdraws from National Review, citing his atheism. The second volume of his autobiography, Love and Revolution (1965), completed with the help of critic Daniel Aaron, reminds readers of the puzzling arc of Max’s life. Seven Kinds of Goodness, his final book, with portraits of spiritual leaders from Buddha to Jesus, ends with the encouragement that we make a “jewel of the accident of [our] being.” Max dies on March 26, 1969, in Bridgetown, Barbados, his summer home. His son Daniel, alternately rejected and embraced by his distracted father, follows him a half year later.