If an anecdote is to live beyond its own day, it must not only be worth the telling but be well told, and from over a thousand years of memoirs, reminiscences, and letters, Professor Sutherland has gathered almost five hundred that meet these demanding criteria. Here are comic, poignant, and revealing stories by or about not only those famous for their eccentricity, forthrightness, and wit -- Johnson, Scott, Henry James, Wilde and Shaw -- but also...