Long story short, this book is well-written and researched by someone who clearly knows what they are talking about, but it holds absolutely no interest for me. It's more of something I'd like to read in a quick newspaper article than a 300 page book. I did learn some interesting tidbits though. I'll share some with you.

1. Franklin Pierce, our 14th president, was good friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne. In fact, he was with him on a trip when Hawthorne died.

2. Hawthorne and Herman Meville were also friends for a time.

3. Many writers from the 19th and 20th century would probably be diagnosed with some kind of mental illness, social phobia, or Asperger's syndrome.

4. TB probably killed all the Brontes.

5. Ezra Pound had some kind of really weird three way relationship with his wife and mistress and was also a huge Fascist.