Among The Profane is a unique celebration of 34 literary giants who didn't have academic degrees. It also dispels the obviously ridiculous myth that grandiloquent words on pieces of expensive paper somehow makes one better suited, more intelligent and generally above those not in possession of them. Third President of the United States and founder of Virginia University, Thomas Jefferson referred to academic degrees as 'artificial embellishments.' The book doesn't discount the validity or importance of degrees in society but rather shows that human beings need not the approval of any individual or institution to be taken seriously or be called great . The brief biographies of three Nobel Laureates, seven Pulitzer Prize winners and several recipients of various literary awards and medals are all part of this truly inspirational work of literature. Their lives along with the painful struggles they had to endure as practitioners of a disrespected but indispensable craft continue to shine in this era of tricknology.