Truman Capote was a master of the short form (as shown by some of the most beautiful and perfect stories he contributed to contemporary literature) and a sharp observer and chronicler of his times. The portraits reunited in this volume are a reminder of both these virtues. Capote writes with tenderness and also with disdain about some of the most relevant figures of the twentieth century, sketching outlines such as the one dedicated to Marlon Brando's Japanese adventures during the filming of Sayonara, or the now mythical portrait of Marilyn Monroe.