A.J. Liebling

Critic Philip Hamburger has described Back Where I Came From as a “love letter to the City of New York.” Do you agree or disagree? If so, how and why does Liebling express his views? What techniques does he use as a reporter/writer?

Philip Hamburger is correct when he describes “Back Where I Came From” as a “love letter to the City of New York” since he goes into precise detail about all aspects of New York. He clearly has paid a great deal of attention to the tiniest things that make up the city, making it easy to infer that he has a great passion for the city. Liebling goes into detail with the description of buildings, daily tasks of New Yorkers, as well as using street numbers and landmarks to give his readers a precise location of the place he’s bringing to life with his words. From the details Liebling provides, he definitely uses techniques of imagery and scene in order to bring life to his “love letter to the City of New York.”