Paul Johnson examines whether intellectuals are morally fit to give advice to humanity. How great is their respect for truth? What is their attitude to money? How do they treat their spouses and children - legitimate and illegitimate? How loyal are they to their friends? In essence, do their private practices match the standard of their public principles? Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Lillian Hellman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, Kenneth Tynan and many others are put under the spotlight.