In a rambling series of essays -- partly analytical, partly polemical, and partly autobiographical -- Fiedler takes issue with the elitist and prescriptive tendency among the self-appointed guardians of art, and with the modern split between 'high' and 'low' forms of literature. He argues that traditional approaches to and standards of literature have become obsolete, and a criticism which ignores or condescends to Uncle Tom's Cabin, Gone with the Wind, Roots et alia can have little to say about American culture.

According to Paul Robeson, Jr., the controversy about multiculturalism is in fact a profound ideological struggle over the values of our national culture. More than a question of the politics of race and gender, the debate is about whether melting-pot culture, the foundation of American life, should be replaced by a mosaic culture incorporating the values of the diverse groups that make up America's population. Robeson contends that the melting pot image has not worked for Blacks, who are excluded by definition from the blended culture of the ethnic American dream. Basing his argument in part on a rejection of the idea of radical individualism, the author suggests that the absence of a concept of group rights in American history places Blacks at a disadvantage. Radical individualism, as a philosophy, rejects the premise of civil rights for groups, which in modern parlance is termed "group tyranny." Robeson attacks mainstream American culture itself in a series of interrelated essays on his father (Paul Robeson), Clarence Thomas, liberals and conservatives, cultural diversity in the workplace, gender and minorities, Blacks and Jews, the Black middle class, and the university. What is needed, Robeson contends, is a new understanding of the nature of a culture of diversity - one that also celebrates Blacks, women, and other presently marginalized groups as visible and distinct actors.

"At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel Dutch family. When their brilliant and beautiful daughter Maria sees through Gerta's ruse, she insists that Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam and help her enter the elite, male-dominated art world. While Maria rises in the ranks of society as a painting prodigy, Gerta makes herself invaluable in every way: confidante, muse, lover. But as Gerta steps into her own talents, their relationship fractures into a complex web of obsession and rivalry--and the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything"--