Con-man, filmmaker (currently working on producing Jesus 2001, what he calls the religious equivalent of The Godfather), descendent of a wealthy and prestigious New York family whose wealth and prestige are in sharp decline, racist and anti-Semite (though Simon dislikes all ethnic groups equally), possessor of never-satisfied appetites (food, women, drink, but most of all, money and more money), and the fastest talker since Falstaff, Simon is on a quest that goes backwards.

There she is, in her proper wool suit, her cashmere sweater, and her string of pearls, notebook at the ready, United Press Radio News Department's fledgling employee.".

Every 3rd issue is a quarterly cumulation.

In this new edition, what was already an expansive work has been updated and further enlarged to include information not only on American and British novelists but also on writers in English from around the world.

Stephen Schryer traces the careers of novelists, journalists, and literary critics who wrote for William F. Buckley, Jr.'s National Review and highlights these writers' enduring impact on movement conservatism.