"In these pages, Atkins richly models the exploratory, revelatory pursuit that he calls the familiar essay. The essays he celebrates range outward from personal experience to impersonal, even cosmic concerns. They marry literature and philosophy, wisdom and wit. Through illuminating readings of figures as diverse as E. B. White and T. S. Eliot, Atkins confirms his position as the leading interpreter of this various and vital mode of art." - Scott Russell Sanders, author of A Private History of Awe

"In these deeply felt and elegantly expressed thoughts about the essay, Atkins offers a moving account of the hard work of self examination in a difficult world. His book is also both an apologia for and a gentle critique of Atkins s own vocation to an academic life. But unlike Marxist or disciplinary commentaries on the profession, this essay invokes the much rarer language of spirituality - of value - to engage, disturb, and inspire its readers." - Patricia Harkin, Professor, English and Communication Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago