Different as they were, all had been stamped with the imprint of history before they were thirty.  They belonged to a century of shifting values where the Jekylls of one decade were the Hydes of the next.  (Louise Tanner) Occasionally when I pass my much too full bookshelf, a book calls out to me.  It beckons to me…come hither and read. The last book to do that is titled Here Today… by Louise Tanner published in 1959.  A book no doubt, I bought at some yard sale, thrift store or library sale as I'm oft to do.  In it, she chronicles the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of some of the early to mid-20th century American celebrated figures.  Well, they were celebrated until they weren't.  And that's the point of the book. By seeing into the inner character and discerning an underlying truth, Tanner cuts through the legend like a skilled surgeon and reveals the flawed human beings that they always were.  Tanner explores the lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Lindbergh, Harold Russell, Shirley Temple, and James Dean to name a few.  These figures according to Tanner represented a "state of mind which was briefly either popular or notorious". For Fitzgerald:  It was the disillusionment of the Jazz Age with its underlay of "hick-town hope". For Lindbergh:  It was faith in the promises of science and the isolationism that became obsolete in the world he helped shrink. For Harold Russell:  It was a father's promise on Armistice Day that there would never be another war. For Shirley Temple:  It was a director's promise that babyhood could be prolonged indefinitely. For James Dean:  It was the angst-ridden rebel carrying his protests to a logical conclusion in a thrill packed moment behind a splintering windshield. Eventually, all these highly esteemed personalities ran afoul of public taste, public sentiment, or savaged their own careers by their behavior.  Fitzgerald toward the end of his career tried to succeed in the movie business – the last refuge of scoundrels.  He would fall prey to his alcoholism and his crazed wife Zelda.  Lindbergh would briefly flee to Europe after the kidnapping and death of his son.  He would come back to America with a sympathy bordering on out and out advocacy for the burgeoning Nazi regime.  As Tanner put it, "he came home to face the long ordeal of deification".  Shirley Temple of course, grew up and was no longer Shirley Temple.  The call went out for the next Shirley.  It's been going out for almost 100 years.  Many are called, but few are chosen.  And those who are, can recount the tragedies of child stardom.  James Dean lived fast, died young, and left behind a not so beautiful corpse.  His rival, Marlon Brando, became corpulent and irrelevant in his old age.  Harold Russell was not singled out for his inner flaws, but the outer flaw of losing his hands during a military training exercise.  He had the fortuitous experience of appearing in a supporting role in the film The Best Years Of Our Lives.  He would win an Academy award for the role of a Navy sailor who lost both hands during the war.  However, Russell's film career was brief.  Director William Wyler convinced him that he should go to college because there wasn't much call for a guy with no hands in the motion picture industry. Here Today… is genius because it not only relays a cautionary tale about the perils of fame of a long-ago generation, but her "shifting archetypes" are relevant to today's generation:  the lecherous movie mogul, the disgraced president, the mentally ill pop star, the viral sensations that flamed out, the self-destructive actor as well as all those who have succumbed to cancel culture and #themetoomovement.  Unfortunately, Tanner inadvertently created the archetype of the "forgotten writer".  And that's a shame, because sometimes an old dusty book reveals insight and wisdom that stands the test of time.