Dorothy Parker, more than any of her contemporaries, captured the spirit of her age in her writing. The decadent twenties and thirties in New York were a time of great experiment and daring for women. For the rich, life seemed a continual party, but the excesses took their emotional toll. With a biting wit and perceptive insight, Dorothy Parker examines the social mores of her day and exposes the darkness beneath the dazzle. Her own life exemplified this duality, for while she was one of the most talked-about women of her day, rich and gifted, she was also known as 'a masochist whose passion for unhapiness knew no bound.' Her brilliant dissection of the jazz Age in poetry and prose is collected in this volume along with articles and reviews.