From Beowulf to Bernard Shaw, this is a history of literature seen through the collected and annotated prefaces of major writers from all over the English speaking world.
Alasdair Gray has written most of the commentary with these prefaces, assisted in the endeavour by some thirty authors who have also written commentaries. These include James Kelman, Janice Galloway, A L Kennedy, Bernard MacLaverty, Liz Lochhead, Roger Scruton and Virginia Woolf. This unique work of literature will delight, amaze and inform both casual browsers and students.