A series of insightful and accessible essays from one of the most brilliant essayists of our time~Illuminates the life and work of leading twentieth-century writers and thinkers in a brief compass~Includes essays on T.S. Eliot, Graham Greene, J.B. Priestley, C.S. Lewis, Kingsley Amis, Nikolaus Pevsner, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Ignatieff~Engages with current assumptions about biography, criticism, and the language of public debate