This book is primarily a literary analysis of a number of famous authors and works of fiction. Mr. Fadiman started as a book reviewer, with a stint at the New Yorker. He was considered an enfant terrible for writing scathing reviews of works that were generally accepted as classics. With time he segued into a career as the moderator of the radio quiz show Information Please.

In this work, Fadiman revisits and reassesses the works of Gertrude Stein, Tolstoy, Henry James, and others. He detested Stein and his take down of her was enjoyable to read.

I suspect, this is a book to dip into, reading only Fadiman's take on the authors that interest the reader.

Fadiman's career was an interesting dichotomy. His work was often considered high brow by the hoi polloi, but low brow by the intellectual class. In that way, he couldn't win.