Wright grudgingly pays tribute to Hellman's talent, but becomes embarrassingly moralistic about her private life, especially her relationship with Dashiell Hammett...Wright concludes that Hellman's troubled political involvements were less "intellectual" than "visceral." One could not object to this portrait if it were convincingly argued, but Wright does not answer as many questions as he lays aside in favor of moral judgments. His biography is a brief for the prosecution.