Ms. Schlant's admiration and care for Broch's books comes through her detailed exploration of Broch and his writing in a very readable and enjoyable way. I've owned this book for years and, as I also enjoy Broch, I refer to it often. She does not dissect his writing, but serves as more of an intermediary to a better understanding of what Broch was trying to accomplish and brings us, perhaps, a bit closer to Broch's thought process (his essays will serve you well there). The biographical is well integrated within the discussions of his writings, and his life was enough of a story itself to bring further interest to this book. In closing, if I might, I'll leave you with the first two sentences of Michael P. Steinberg's forward: "Hermann Broch was a man of many genres. If his novels, plays, stories, and political and philosophical writings can be said to share a single theme, that theme is the limits of human consciousness in a politically saturated world." ~Amazon Reviewer