The firstever collection of essays from across Elizabeth Hardwicks illustrious writing career including works not seen in print for decades. A New York Times Notable Book of 2017 Elizabeth Hardwick wrote during the golden age of the American literary essay. For Hardwick the essay was an imaginative endeavor a serious form criticism worthy of the literature in question. In the essays collected here she covers civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s describes places where she lived and locations