1987, Simon and Schuster

One of our finest journalists, Francine du Plessix Gray has collected her most important nonfiction work, including major pieces on Klaus Barbie, the infamous Gestapo chief of Lyons; a nonfiction novella on Hawaii, the fiftieth state; and writings on contemporary American religious movements, on women writers and women doers. These display a brilliance and acuity, a range, a wit and intellecual power, that are formidable. Francine Gray has the gifts of a novelist and the talent of a shrewd and probing and wry reporter.

"Francine du Plessix Gray's treasury of intellect and passion ranges from the particulars of the Klaus Barbie case to a replendent commencement address at Bryn Mawr; from the predicaments of society to the engagements of the soul; from the acutely analytical to the repertorial to the intuitive - and all of it in a brilliant and orchestral prose capable of great breadth, nuance, and nerve. By reminding us that there is no moment without it's ancestry in history and spirit, these essays enlarge, enrich, and sensitize culture. One might even dare to say that in "Adam and Eve and the City" she comes close to counting as Edmund Wilson Redux."
Cynthia Ozick

Gray's impeccable style and fine critical eye are shown to their best advantage in this eclectic but even collection of prose pieces. A politically cogent and highly readable cultural document.
Library Journal

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