Mary McCarthy

Discusses the nature of thought and volition, examines past philosophical theories, and clarifies the relation between will and freedom

This unique autobiography begins with McCarthy's recollections of an indulgent, idyllic childhood tragically altered by the death of her parents in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Tempering the need to fictionalize for the sake of a good story with the need for honesty, she creates interchapters that tell the reader what she has inferred or invented. Photographs.

Literary criticism that ranges from Shakespeare to Salinger.

A penetrating work of reportage on Venice. "Searching observations and astonishing comprehension of the Venetian taste and character" (New York Herald Tribune).