All of the writers in the book have appeared at Novello, which is sponsored by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, named National Library of the Year in 1995. This diverse collection of prose represents not only the best of Novello but also a sampler of some of the best writing of our time.

Whether as journalists, columnists, war correspondents, or writers of fiction, memoir, and humor, the twenty-five contributors have won nearly every award a writer could covet.

Some of the essays and stories in this anthology may be familiar to readers, but many appear here in print for the first time. Charles Kuralt reminisces about a time when old ways began to give way to modern life. Pat Conroy crafts a raw and wryly funny remembrance of his now-deceased father, Donald Conroy, the inspiration for The Great Santini. In his selection, David Halberstam offers a look back at his early career when he covered the civil rights upheavals in Mississippi.

Novelists Lee Smith and Nanci Kincaid introduce readers to their new works in progress, and Sandra Goven, a scholar and professor of African-American literature tells a true-life story about her childhood "bibliomania" and where it led.