A collection of essays that defends imaginative reading against the reduction of literature to scientific or utilitarian categories, argues for direct engagement with texts, and critiques contemporary pedagogic tendencies. Other pieces reflect on the author's own literary formation and choice of companions, examine how literary sensibility intersects with political life, include an extended consideration of Burke as interpreter of English liberty, and offer meditations on truth, exemplary Americans, and the shape of national history. The essays blend close criticism, cultural commentary, and historical reflection.