This book chronicles the rise of American modernism through a "group portrait of a small band of cultural renegades" who comprised avant-garde circles from 1913 to 1917 in New York, Cambridge, Chicago, London, Paris, and Florence. The result is an excellent, concise, highly readable overview of the literary alliances, social networks, and unconventional lifestyles that characterized the era when artists, poets, writers, and intellectuals were "struggling to develop an American voice." Watson effectively conveys the bohemian spirit of the age and does much to make this period comprehensible for today's reader. A unique feature of the book is its "Cast of Characters," an annotated alphabetical index of key figures including Gertrude and Leo Stein, the Arensbergs, Alfred Stieglitz, Ezra Pound, Eugene O'Neill, Amy Lowell, John Reed, and others featured in the book. Also noteworthy is the 44-page "Modern Chronology" of significant events, professional and social. Recommended for general collections in the humanities.