James Nagel is J. O. Eidson Distinguished Professor of American Literature at the University of Georgia, founder of the journal Studies in American Fiction, and cofounder of the American Literature Association. Among his previous books are Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism; Ernest Hemingway: The Oak Park Legacy; and, with Henry S. Villard, Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky.

"Whether one reads the book in its entirety or goes to a particular chapter to gain an understanding of a specific writer, the reader is rewarded with a plenitude of original and astute local insights. Nagel's study is to be recommended for students and instructors alike." - Contemporary Literature"