"Those rewrite men—some of them were so drunk!" So begins Gay Talese's entertaining reminiscence on just how drunk the New York Times was, in his day. Mad Men? "Hell. The drinking that went on in journalism was beyond that."

Smoking indoors. And everybody was so drunk! What a sad, emotionally disturbed time it must have been. Untreated depression was rampant, no doubt. The funniest part is when Gay says, "There's nothing like that today." Well.