"...Grayling has distilled the work of hundreds of authors and more than one thousand texts using the same techniques...that produced the holy books of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions. Their wit and advice, human stories, tragedies and yearnings, love and consolations are shaped into fourteen constituent parts that recall the Bible in structure: Genesis, Wisdom, Parables, Concord, Lamentations, Consolations, Sages, Songs, Histories, Proverbs,...

Presents literary criticism on the works of twentieth-century writers of all genres, nations, and cultures. Critical essays are selected from leading sources, including published journals, magazines, books, reviews, diaries, interviews, radio and television transcripts, pamphlets, and scholarly papers.