Brilliant arguments in this book, but it reads much like someone's senior thesis. Only... 100x better. This is an academic work (citations galore!); Meisel's writing is nonetheless lyrical, evocative, animated, and moving. He writes about jazz with the cadence of bebop; his chapter on Virginia Woolf is dreamy and atmospheric while sharply observed. The richness and density of the material means this isn't an easy book to get through, but it's worth it for the myriad tangents it will make you want to follow. ( )