"John Leonard is back with the off-beat, wide-ranging style that earned his last book, When the Kissing Had to Stop, a place among the Voice Literary Supplement's "25 Favorites of 1999." Now, with an eye to the social and political experience of writers, Leonard's Lonesome Rangers explores the literature of exile.".

"In these pages, he considers Salman Rushdie as a rock 'n' roll Orpheus, who - after ten years in fatwa-enforced exile - bears a striking resemblance to his continually disappearing characters. He addresses Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, where exile manifests itself in solitary bowling, reflecting a declining sense of community.

And Leonard also explores Primo Levi's exile of survival, Bruce Chatwin's self-imposed exile in travel, as well as the work of Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Philip Roth, Barbara Kingsolver, and Don DeLillo, among others."--BOOK JACKET.