This new book offers a broad critical survey of a significant form of American fiction that has long been in need of serious attention. In the first full treatment of the subject, James W. Tuttleton describes the form, elucidating its typical themes, and shows how various important and representative writers have brought the form to life.

This book represents a comprehensive collection of contemporary reviews of the writing of Edith Wharton from the 1890s until her death in 1937.