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pp. xvii, (5), 394, “The name Horace Liveright might not ring any bells, but every reader knows the Modern Library series, Liveright’s first and most financially successful publishing venture. Dardis’ lively biography secures Liveright’s place in the pantheon of innovative and courageous American book publishers. Liveright earned his nickname, “Firebrand,” by fighting censorship (with the help of New York mayor Jimmy Walker) and by being the first in the U.S. to publish revolutionary writers such as Sigmund Freud, Leon Trotsky, Ezra Pound, Theodore Dreiser, T. S. Eliot, John Reed, Djuna Barnes, and Eugene O’Neill. A lucky Wall Street speculator in his youth, Liveright brought his intuition and love of gambling to publishing with great success. Handsome, devastatingly charming, and frankly unorthodox, Liveright played as seriously as he worked, nearly bankrupting his prestigious publishing house by throwing lavish parties and destroying his marriage by engaging in numerous affairs. Not only does Dardis’ entertaining volume relate the life of this fascinating man, it also illuminates some crucial aspects of the history of book publishing in the U.S. and relates many delectable anecdotes about the most influential writers of the Jazz Age. “