As a young man, delving into Schwartz's
life with only a partial idea
of what he was doing, Atlas was nonetheless able to meet many
of his fast - vanishing heroes from the New York literary world who had inspired him to become a critic in the first place: Philip Rahv, Dwight Macdonald, Alfred Kazin — giants who held sway over American culture in a
bygone, arguably more literate
age.