Peter De Vries (1910-93), the man responsible for contributing to the cultural vernacular such witticisms as "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be" and "Deep down, he's shallow," was, according to Kingsley Amis, "the funniest serious writer to be found on either side of the Atlantic." But De Vries's life and work was informed as much by sorrow as by wit, and that dynamic is nowhere better seen than in his classics Slouching Towards Kalamazoo and The Blood of the Lamb. First published in 1983 and 1961, respectively, these novels reemerge with their sharp satire and biting pain undiluted by time.

"Anyone who has never read De Vries could perhaps find no better place to start than with Slouching Towards Kalamazoo. It is vintage De Vries....A hilarious and expertly crafted comic novel." - New York Times "Few writers have understood literary comedy as well as De Vries, and few comic novelists have had his grasp of tragedy." - Jeffrey Frank, New Yorker"