The life and times of literary pioneer and queer icon Margaret C. Anderson, who risked everything to be the first to publish James Joyce’s Ulysses in America.
Riveting and indispensable ... Revelatory ... Abounds with delicious nuggets of literary gossip and colorful characters that would be at home in novels ... Among the extraordinary aspects of this singular tale is that, to borrow from Pound’s words, all her life Anderson was that genius, creating and recreating her own milieu.
Reconstructs the remarkable life and career of Margaret Anderson ... Convincingly supported by his extensive archival research ... Morgan’s obvious admiration for his subject occasionally undermines critical analysis. While his passion brings Anderson’s story to life, it sometimes prevents deeper examination of her limitations and contradictions ... Morgan’s prose is engaging and accessible, though it occasionally lapses into hyperbolic language that diminishes his scholarly credibility ... While the book’s hagiographic tendencies occasionally frustrated me, its core achievement—restoring Anderson to her rightful place in the story of American literary modernism—makes it essential reading for anyone interested in how literature and politics intersect during periods of rapid social change.
