The author addresses most of the leading New Zealand literary figures of the last decades of the last century including Allen Curnow, Lauris Edmond, Kendrick Smithyman, Frank Sargeson, Janet Frame (two essays), Ian Wedde, Maurice Gee, and the talented younger writer Elizabeth Knox. The book represents a collection of perceptive, readable, opinionated comment on a wide range of local writers and writing over a long period and shows in an interesting way the evolution of Stead’s critical position.