Kurt Andersen, the founder of Spy magazine, is the author of Turn of the Century , a scathingly funny satire of American mores at the end of the last millennium, and now Heyday (Random House, 640 pages, $26.95), an exhilarating cutaway view of America in the pivotal year of 1848. I spoke with Andersen about his new book and the state of the American historical novel.— Allen Barra Read more »