Thanks to Barb for an excellent review of _A Summer of Hummingbirds_, By Christopher Benfey, on the Twain-LIST. As Barb says, the subtitle is misleading and the material on Twain in the book is very thin, to say the least. I also find some of the claims rather reckless, such as Stowe fantasizing about her brother Henry, or the importance of Twin's brief stop in Central America. That said, I did enjoy the book very much, and hope that folks will read it, especially if you have interest in the period and especially Emily Dickinson. As it turns out, I just finished the book Sunday, so it is fresh in my mind. It is rather impressionistic and this stylistic aspect may be a bit of a turn-off for some scholarly readers. But it is jumping with big ideas. Despite the sub-title, it is really a book about her. His readings of many of her most challenging poems is excellent, and I found many of Benfey's ideas quite stimulating. Plus, the topic is loosely connected with American Impressionism (Heade, though in some ways he resisted the French movement), so that may be part of the plan. Benfey is good at bridging art and literary criticism. He is provocative on Dickinson's artistic and even religious sensibility, though I am no Dickinson scholar and cannot guess which of those ideas sound like nonsense to those much more dedicated to Dickinson biography/criticism. He is also quite good on Henry Ward Beecher, Mabel Loomis Todd, and a few others; and the material on Lord Byron and the Chillon poem is wonderful. Benfey's previous book on Japan, The Great Wave, is really terrific, btw. I guess this is just a plug for the work of Benfey and the rather unconventional nature of his method. As an old southerner once said to me, when you eat fried chicken, swallow the meat and spit out the bones! -- Harold K. Bush, Ph.D Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO