These 20 essays find Andre Dubus writing on such diverse subjects as his Catholic boyhood in a Cajun-Creole community in Louisiana to the transcendental qualities of baseball. He also writes descriptions of his children and his account of the 1986 car accident that cost him the use of his legs, and the ensuing struggle for his spiritual and physical survival. Dubus has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and a MacArthur Fellowship in 1988.