Quotes
“This rich…collection of Bellow’s reviews, essays, speeches, and
interviews illuminate his lifelong exploration of what it means to be an
American, a Jew, and a writer. As assembled by Taylor, the pieces
succeed in showing that Bellow’s calling was, in the novelist’s own
words, ‘not to preach but to relate.’” Publishers Weekly
“Even a decade after his death, this collection illuminates Bellow’s continued relevance and confirms his standing as one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.” Library Journal
“Nobel Prize winner Bellow
was a prolific writer of nonfiction: essays, reviews, interviews, talks, and
memoirs. Organized by decade, the fifty-seven pieces in this volume, edited by Taylor, trace both Bellow’s writing
career and his outspoken opinions on politics, literature, and intellectual life
in America during the second half of the twentieth century.…This comprehensive
collection illuminates Bellow’s sense of his own identity and his changing
world.” Kirkus Reviews