"Here I want---at least in part---to entertain. This is not to say that the pieces gathered here are not serious in their arguments; quite the contrary....I mean only that, in these articles, I have given my natural inclinations towards satire and towards wantonly profligate turns of phrase far freer rein than academic writing permits....I have, at any rate, attempted to include only pieces that strike me as having some intrinsic interest, both in form and in content." -from the introduction