Review: Robert Cottrell on John McPhee

At the risk of stating the obvious, John McPhee’s most recent books are works of old age. As they should and must be: McPhee’s defining trait is his honesty, and, at 87, he must know where he stands in the actuarial tables. We are not likely to get from him another book on the scale of Coming Into The Country, or The Pine Barrens. Now we are in another …