A collection of Anthony Powell's best critical writing over a period of four decades, drawn from his regular reviews for the Daily Telegraph, occasional humorous pieces for Punch and more sustained pieces of critical and anecdotal writing on writers. The first section on British writers looks at John Aubrey, Rudyard Kipling, Conrad and Thomas Hardy. The second part looks at American writers such as Henry James, James Thurber and Dashiel Hammett, and included is a section on Powell's contemporaries such as Cyril Connolly, George Orwell, Nancy Mitford, Graham Greene, Osbert Lancaster and others. The book closes with a discussion of Proust.