Is there some adventure out there that we are not having, some vividness, some wild pleasure, that we are not experiencing in our responsible, productive days? ... We are bequeathed on earth one very short life, and it might be good, one of these days, to make sure that we are living it.' As steely eyed in examining her own life as she is in skewering our cultural pitfalls, Roiphe gives us autobiographical pieces that are by turns, deeply moving, self-critical, razor-sharp, entertaining and unapologetic in their defence of 'messy lives'. In Praise of Messy Lives is powerfully unified, vital work from one of our most astute and essayists writing today.