A wonderful collection of book reviews by the recently deceased (1939-2008) book reviewer for the NYT and NYRB who also wrote for Vanity Fair, the Nation, etc. A hardcore reader, intellect, polymath and liberal Democrat, Leonard can string together an astounding list of metaphors, objects, and literary allusions as he ponders or attacks the latest written works. A big fan of Rushdie, Didion, Marquez, Chabon, Nabokov, Lessing, DeLillo, and above all Toni Morrison, he could be vicious in dealing with Nixon and TV.  Extremely readable (especially if you have Google available) his essay on Ed Sullivan and early TV is a classic. Worth reading this entire essay collection. He showed amazing prescience in the ‘90s in writing about American greed, inequality, intolerance, the incipient Tea Party, etc. An alcoholic, he embraced AA to recovery. Writing and editing as the Book Editor of the NYT Book Review, the writer of the NYT column “Private Lives,” New York Magazine’s weekly TV column, Harper’s New Books column, or appearing as the book reviewer on “Fresh Air” or as the CBS Sunday morning’s TV, book, and cultural critic, he was everywhere in the ‘80s to 2000’s. Not bad for a Harvard Crimson writer who dropped out!  ‘Popular culture is where we go to talk to and agree with one another; to simplify ourselves; to find our hero….Whereas books are where we go alone to complicate ourselves.”