Steven Moore – författare

A betrayed criminal. A kidnapped child. A deadly race against time.On Bali, the Island of the Gods, world-famous expedition leader Hiram Kane is on holiday.But when Kane's good friend betrays Bali’s most notorious gangster, a violent raid leaves a community shell-shocked after its leader's six-year-old daughter is kidnapped.Hiram Kane simply cannot stand back and do nothing, especially when a child is involved.What follows is a whirlwind race across the paradise island to rescue the girl before ‘The Rooster’ takes his sadistic revenge. With a volcano about to erupt, threatening to destroy them all, Kane must risk everything to prevent the death of an innocent child.He's seen it happen before. He will not let it happen again!The Tiger Temple is the rip-roaring sequel to the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey, and Russell Blake.Buy your copy, TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

One lethal storm. One deadly criminal. One ancient code.World-renowned expedition leader Hiram Kane is in Japan to speak at a conference when the deadliest storm in recorded history strikes. He launches into the rescue mission as flash floods cause chaos, death and destruction across the devastated region.Yakuza boss Katashi Goto is retiring from the mob. Before he does, he has one more thing to achieve:Blood revenge over a centuries’ old enemy.When their two very different worlds collide, Kane is forced to make an impossible choice. He has always known honour is worth fighting for.When challenged by Katashi, he has to decide if it is also worth dying for.The Samurai Code is the rip-roaring fourth installment of the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey, and Russell Blake.Buy your copy, TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ “Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

An archaeological adventure filled with lost cities, ancient prophecies, rival factions, hidden treasure, and a race against time.Hiram Kane has spent his life chasing the impossible. Now, armed with the only known map to the lost Inca city of Vilcabamba, he leads an expedition deep into the perilous Peruvian Andes, determined to succeed where his ancestors failed and finally lay his past to rest.But the quest awakens a five-hundred-year-old prophecy and draws the attention of forces far deadlier than the mountains themselves.Kane’s expedition is infiltrated by two ruthless factions, each driven by ideology and bloodshed. The Condor Uprising, led by a man claiming to be the new Pachacuti, seeks vengeance on the descendants of the conquistadors and the fulfilment of an ancient Inca prophecy. Opposing them is the Eagle Alliance, a militant Catholic group determined to crush the uprising and seize the legendary lost gold to finance their own holy war.Caught between fanaticism, betrayal, and brutal terrain, Kane and his team must race to reach Vilcabamba first. Failure will not only cost lives, it will ignite a religious conflict capable of consuming South America and beyond.The Condor Prophecy is the first book in the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane Archaeological Adventure Series, perfect for fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey, Luke Richardson, and Russell Blake.___________________________________________________________________Praise for the Hiram Kane Archaeological Thriller Series:★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Move over Raiders of the Lost Ark, there’s a new hero in town.★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Feels like an Indiana Jones film brought to the page.★ ★ ★ ★ ★ You’ll want to read the next book immediately.★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A globe-trotting thriller in the tradition of Clive Cussler.★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Once you start this series, you’ll be hooked.

Criminals getting rich. Terrorists getting powerful. Women getting killed... and worse.World-renowned expedition leader Hiram Kane travels to India to honour the life of his murdered best friend.But Kane's world is soon plunged into turmoil when a psychotic people trafficker kidnaps Alexandria Ridley, the love of his life, and disappears into the mighty Himalayas.What begins as a risky rescue mission turns into a chilling foray into the world of weapons and drugs trading, sexual slavery and human trafficking...And culminates in a deadly race against time across the top of the world into Chinese-occupied Tibet.With dozens of lives on the line and the very future of Buddhism in jeopardy, Kane must overcome one final mental hurdle;Can he make the ultimate sacrifice?The Shadow of Kailash is book #6 in the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey and Russell Blake.Buy your copy, TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

A Betrayed Archaeologist. A Ghost from the Past. A Dozen Worthy Sacrifices.Expedition leader Hiram Kane is holed up in his native England recovering from wounds both physical and mental, when his family receives a mysterious anonymous letter that dredges up nightmares from the past.Could it also offer a ray of unexpected hope?Across the globe beneath a forgotten Aztec pyramid, a disillusioned archaeology professor is about to unleash his wrath. How?Brutally murdering a dozen innocent victims in an ancient sacrificial ritual.When the modern and ancient worlds collide and the unhinged professor starts committing unimaginable blood-spilling atrocities on the adolescent virgins, Kane is forced to make an impossible choice;Will he sacrifice the love of his life to save the innocent girls?The Feathered Serpent is book 3 in the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey, and Russell Blake.Buy your copy, TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

He’s had enough death and disaster. He believes the madness is finally over. He’s been wrong before.Hiram Kane has retired from a life of international exploration, sick of the tragedies that stalk him across the globe. When he’s offered the job of transporting one of the world’s most iconic artefacts back to its rightful home, working for the British Museum’s ground-breaking Artefact Repatriation Committee, it seems the perfect route into a simpler life.But, when a mysterious organisation with devastating plans entangles with his, things once more plunge into chaos.Deep within the labyrinthine tombs and temples of long-dead pharaohs, Kane will face the most difficult decision of his life.Will his blood once again stain ancient stone, or will his heart find what it most desiresOf Curses and Kings is the rip-roaring fifth installment of the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Nick Thacker, Ernest Dempsey, and Russell Blake.Buy your copy, TODAY, of what one reader declared is “... the most action-packed, nerve-shredding instalment of the brilliant Hiram Kane series to date.”★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ “Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

THE GREATEST UNSOLVED MYSTERY IN TWO CENTURIES!HIRAM KANE IS BACK. THIS TIME, THINGS ARE DIFFERENT. THIS TIME, KANE'S PUTTING HIMSELF FIRST.After being approached by an enigmatic character at a bar in Cambodia, where he has been holed up for several months after the devastating events in Egypt, against his better judgment Hiram Kane gets tempted into one last mission.However, he soon learns that all is not as it seems. Thus, what begins as a harmless treasure hunt soon descends into an electrifying battle for truth.And then, a death-defying battle for survival!From Cambodia to Washington D.C. then New Orleans to the mysterious Oak Island, and finally to the Scottish Highlands via London, Kane battles his own demons as well as the latest in a long list of deadly adversaries. Those men want the same thing Kane wants.The only difference is that they will kill to get it.And if Kane fails, the very future of trans-Atlantic peace is on the line.The Oak Island Enigma is book #7 in Moore's bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series. Readers of Nick Thacker, Kevin Tumlinson, Ernest Dempsey and Clive Cussler will LOVE this book.Buy your copy, TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ “Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

A peaceful mountain retreat. A missing cultural treasure. An old enemy hellbent on revenge.At the request of his one-time guru, Hiram Kane makes a pilgrimage to South Korea. The reason? To find himself. To become whole again.To not die!Things go well, until an old adversary rears his lethal head and not only threatens Kane's life, but the very soul of Korea and its people.What begins as a peaceful retreat turns into a search and rescue mission, not only of an irreplaceable cultural treasure, but of a human life;The guru's beloved son.With both time and merciless killers against him, Kane faces his most dangerous mission yet.Kane came to Korea to choose life. Now he must opt for death.Killing Koreana is the 8th installment in the internationally bestselling Hiram Kane action thriller series, and will appeal to fans of Clive Cussler, Ernest Dempsey, Nick Thacker and Russell Blake.

When you said I could never escape, I knew I would.When you told me all hope was lost, I knew it was not.When you declared you would kill me soon, I knew I would kill you first.I am Alexandria Ridley.I am a survivor.And I am coming for you!From the author of the bestselling Hiram Kane, Ryan Bodean and Kayla Stone action thriller series' the brand new Alexandria Ridley vigilante thrillers series is what some readers are saying is 'Moore's best work yet.'Download "I, Survivor," the hugely popular series prequel novella, Today!

She fought her way back from certain death. A predator is still hunting her…Alex Ridley knows there are only three certainties in life... taxes, death, and that if you try to kill her?That death will be yours.After escaping from a vile human trafficking ring, Ridley dedicates her life to liberating more innocent victims from a future of misery and administering her own special brand of justice.She’ll take the fight to them, tracking them to their lair and bringing them down from within, one by one by one.But there’s a problem...Ridley had left her nemesis for dead in her desperate fight for survival. Somehow, the Korean gangster lived, and is hell-bent on a revenge he will stop at nothing to get.From the mountains of Tibet, to the filth and flamboyance of Mumbai, a nerve-shredding rampage for justice leads Ridley to the ‘City of Dreams’ and to an inevitable war.Can she survive?From the author of the bestselling Hiram Kane and Kayla Stone action-thriller books, the brand-new Alexandria Ridley series is what some readers are saying is ‘‘Yet more brilliance from this fantastic author.’BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

They had tried to kill her. Now the prey has become the predator.Alex Ridley knows there are only three certainties in life... taxes, death, and if you hurt those she loves?That death will be yours!Mumbai had been a success. Just. Ridley and Kayla had survived, and they had taken down The Vulture, head of the Indian branch of a huge human trafficking ring.They hoped it was meant to be the end.It was only the beginning.After ‘extracting’ certain information from The Vulture on his death-bed, the vigilantes headed to Milan, only to find things were worse than they’d feared.Much worse.With its equally imposing and inspiring backdrop of castles and cathedrals, the ‘City of Light’ begins to reveal the depths of its shadows as they hunt the predators on their own patch.Can Ridley emerge alive from those shadows with her life?Or will she once again be consumed by the darkness?From the author of the bestselling Hiram Kane and Kayla Stone action-thriller books, the brand new Alexandria Ridley series is what some readers are saying is ‘Yet more brilliance from this author.’BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

They took her freedom and her liberty. They should have taken her life.Alex Ridley knows there are only three certainties in life... taxes, death, and that if you kidnap and hurt girls and young women?She will hunt you down, and she will end you!Alex Ridley has changed. She was once a respected art historian. A pacifist. Flawed, yes. Troubled, certainly.Now she’s driven to do whatever it takes to bring down the traffickers, including acts of extreme violence.She’ll track them to their dens. She’ll play them at their own heinous game.She’ll turn justice into a masterpiece.From India to Tibet, and then Milan, Ridley’s fierce determination to administer justice and liberate the victims — women and girls, just like her — thrusts her into the chaos of Marrakesh.She thought she’d seen the very worst of humanity.The ‘Red City’ opens her eyes to new levels of depravity.Ridley must survive. Hundreds — thousands — will suffer if she doesn’t. Yet, up against the most dangerous enemy she’s ever faced, the odds are stacked against her.She hates them. To defeat them, she must become them.From the author of the bestselling Hiram Kane and Kayla Stone action-thriller books, the brand new Alexandria Ridley series is what some readers are saying is ‘More brilliance from this author.’BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!★★★★★ "Compelling from start to finish." — Mark Dawson, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "King of the action thriller. Brilliant." — Adam Croft, USA TODAY Bestselling Author★★★★★ "Your new favourite action-thriller author." — Nick Thacker, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

This volume provides the reader with an integrated overview of state-of-the-art research in philosophy and ethics of design in engineering and architecture. It contains twenty-five essays that focus on engineering designing in its traditional sense, on designing in novel engineering domains, including ICT, genetics, and nanotechnology, designing of socio-technical systems, and on architectural and environmental designing. These essays are preceded by an introductory text structuring the field of philosophy and ethics of design in engineering and architecture as one in which a series of similar philosophical, societal and ethical questions are asked. This volume enables the reader to overcome the traditional separation between engineering designing and architectural designing. The emerging discipline of designing socio-technical systems is shown to form an intermediate between engineering and architecture to which the philosophical and ethical analyses of both domains apply. This volume thus announces a challenging cross-fertilization between the philosophy and ethics of engineering and of architecture that will lay down the integrated ground works for the renewed interests in the importance of design in modern society.

This title tells a comprehensive history - and controversial reappraisal - of the world's most popular and innovative literary form. Encyclopedic in scope and heroically audacious, "The Novel: An Alternative History" is the first attempt in over a century to tell the complete story of our most popular literary form. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the novel did not originate in 18th-century England, nor even with Don Quixote, but is coeval with civilization itself. After a pugnacious introduction, in which Moore defends innovative, demanding novelists against their conservative critics, the book relaxes into a world tour of the premodern novel, beginning in ancient Egypt and ending in 16th-century China, with many exotic ports-of-call: Greek romances; Roman satires; medieval Sanskrit novels narrated by parrots; Byzantine erotic thrillers; 5000-page Arabian adventure novels; Icelandic sagas; delicate Persian novels in verse; Japanese war stories; even Mayan graphic novels. Throughout, Moore celebrates the innovators in fiction, tracing a continuum between these premodern experimentalists and their postmodern progeny.Irreverent, iconoclastic, informative, entertaining - "The Novel: An Alternative History" is a landmark in literary criticism that will encourage readers to rethink the novel.

As a soldier and civilian, Steven Moore has traveled from the American Midwest to Afghanistan and beyond. In those travels, he's seen what place can mean, specifically rural places, and how it follows us, changes us. What Moore has to say about rural places speaks to anyone who has driven a lonely road at night, with nothing but darkness as a cushion between them and the emptiness that surrounds. Place and how we define it—and how it defines us—is a through line throughout the collection of eleven essays. Moore writes about where we come from and the disconnection we often feel between each other: between veterans and nonveterans, between people of different political beliefs, between regions, between eras. These pieces build into a contemplative whole, one that is a powerful meditation on why where we come from means something and how we'll always bring where we are with us, no matter where we go.

Now recognized as one of the giants of postwar American fiction, William Gaddis (1922–98) shunned the spotlight during his life, which makes this collection of his letters a revelation. Beginning in 1930 when Gaddis was at boarding-school and ending in September 1998, a few months before his death, these letters function as a kind of autobiography, and are all the more valuable because Gaddis was not an autobiographical writer. Here we see him forging his first novel The Recognitions (1955) while living in Mexico, fighting in a revolution in Costa Rica, and working in Spain, France, and North Africa. Over the next twenty years he struggles to find time to write the National Book Award-winning J R (1975) amid the complications of work and family; deals with divorce and disillusionment before reviving his career with Carpenter''s Gothic (1985); then teaches himself enough about the law to indite A Frolic of His Own (1994), which earned him another NBA. Returning to a topic he first wrote about in the 1940s, he finishes his last novel Agape Agape as he lay dying.

Winner of the Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa SocietyHaving excavated the world's earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800-from Don Quixote to America's first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only interesting in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel.In the most comprehensive history of this period ever written, Moore examines over 400 novels from around the world in a lively style that is as entertaining as it is informative. Though written for a general audience, The Novel, An Alternative History also provides the scholarly apparatus required by the serious student of the period. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most 'elastic' of literary forms” (Booklist).

Winner of the Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa SocietyHaving excavated the world's earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800-from Don Quixote to America's first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only interesting in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel.In the most comprehensive history of this period ever written, Moore examines over 400 novels from around the world in a lively style that is as entertaining as it is informative. Though written for a general audience, The Novel, An Alternative History also provides the scholarly apparatus required by the serious student of the period. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most 'elastic' of literary forms” (Booklist).

In 1989, Steven Moore published the first scholarly study of all three of William Gaddis's novels and since then it has been generally regarded as the best book on this difficult but major writer's work. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on the novels Gaddis published after 1989, the National Book Award-winning A Frolic of His Own and the posthumous novella Agape Agape, along with updated introductory and concluding chapters. This introduction offers a clear discussion of all five of Gaddis's novels, providing essential biographical information, two chapters each on his most significant novels, The Recognitions and J R, and a chapter each devoted to his later three novels. A concluding chapter locates his place in American literature and notes his influence on younger writers. Each chapter focuses on the main themes of each novel and discusses the literary techniques Gaddis deployed to dramatize those themes. Since Gaddis is an erudite, allusive novelist, Moore clarifies his references and explains how they enhance his themes.

In 1989, Steven Moore published the first scholarly study of all three of William Gaddis's novels and since then it has been generally regarded as the best book on this difficult but major writer's work. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on the novels Gaddis published after 1989, the National Book Award-winning A Frolic of His Own and the posthumous novella Agape Agape, along with updated introductory and concluding chapters. This introduction offers a clear discussion of all five of Gaddis's novels, providing essential biographical information, two chapters each on his most significant novels, The Recognitions and J R, and a chapter each devoted to his later three novels. A concluding chapter locates his place in American literature and notes his influence on younger writers. Each chapter focuses on the main themes of each novel and discusses the literary techniques Gaddis deployed to dramatize those themes. Since Gaddis is an erudite, allusive novelist, Moore clarifies his references and explains how they enhance his themes.

In 1989, Steven Moore published the first scholarly study of all three of William Gaddis's novels and since then it has been generally regarded as the best book on this difficult but major writer's work. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on the novels Gaddis published after 1989, the National Book Award-winning A Frolic of His Own and the posthumous novella Agape Agape, along with updated introductory and concluding chapters. This introduction offers a clear discussion of all five of Gaddis's novels, providing essential biographical information, two chapters each on his most significant novels, The Recognitions and J R, and a chapter each devoted to his later three novels. A concluding chapter locates his place in American literature and notes his influence on younger writers. Each chapter focuses on the main themes of each novel and discusses the literary techniques Gaddis deployed to dramatize those themes. Since Gaddis is an erudite, allusive novelist, Moore clarifies his references and explains how they enhance his themes.

In 1989, Steven Moore published the first scholarly study of all three of William Gaddis's novels and since then it has been generally regarded as the best book on this difficult but major writer's work. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on the novels Gaddis published after 1989, the National Book Award-winning A Frolic of His Own and the posthumous novella Agape Agape, along with updated introductory and concluding chapters. This introduction offers a clear discussion of all five of Gaddis's novels, providing essential biographical information, two chapters each on his most significant novels, The Recognitions and J R, and a chapter each devoted to his later three novels. A concluding chapter locates his place in American literature and notes his influence on younger writers. Each chapter focuses on the main themes of each novel and discusses the literary techniques Gaddis deployed to dramatize those themes. Since Gaddis is an erudite, allusive novelist, Moore clarifies his references and explains how they enhance his themes.

Winner of the 2014 Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa SocietyHaving excavated the world’s earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800—from Don Quixote to America’s first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only worthy of attention in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most ‘elastic’ of literary forms” (Booklist).