It's a huge book, crammed with gossip, anecdotes and analysis of British writers and the literary scene from roughly 1870 to 1918. It was a time when books ruled, with no competition from movies, TV, radio and the Internet. It was a period when authors rose in prominence from the gutter press and "sensation" novels to respected Establishment figures, running for Parliament and influencing public policy."Writers, Readers, and Reputations" is a huge book, more than 1,000 pages, but worth the price for readers interested in those times. There are sections on how authors dealt with the public, with politics, and with censorship. There are chapters devoted to major figures who are forgotten today, such as Hall Caine and Marie Corelli. There's gossip here and there about Wilkie Collins' extramarital life, D.H. Lawrence's censorship battles and the feud between the egotistical self-publicizing Caine and the more reticent Arthur Conan Doyle (who wasn't above a little publicity mongering himself).Highly, highly recommended. I've read through this book twice and have begun marking up sections for use in my books.