Best known for the sleek, sophisticated novels he wrote in the 1970s and '80s, W. M. Spackman was also a literary critic of formidable power and slashing wit. Gathered here are all the essays and reviews he published, including those that appeared in his 1967 book of essays On the Decay of Humanism. Spackman brought wide learning and cosmopolitan savoir-faire to his concerns for how literature is taught and evaluated, processes that he felt desperately needed to be overhauled.