he way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history." --The New York Times

"A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life...Keillor's strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary." --Chicago Tribune

"Keillor's laughs come dear, not cheap, emerging from shared virtue and good character, from reassuring us of our neighborliness and strength....His true subject is how daily life is shot with grace. Keillor writes a prose that can be turned to laughter, to tears...to compassion or satire, to a hundred effects. He is a brilliant parodist." --San Francisco Chronicle