A collection of essays and short pieces that deliver sharp, often ironic commentary on American public life, manners, and letters. The writer probes moral and political controversies such as birth control, censorship, capital punishment, and Prohibition, assesses contemporary novelists, critics, and composers, and reflects on religion, pedagogy, and regional life. Personal sketches and miscellaneous notes are woven with polemic and cultural criticism to challenge received opinions and to prompt reconsideration of social norms and literary values.