attack and demolition have a larger place, and the style is at times vituperative in the extreme. Many of the essays, nevertheless, are friendly and constructive. Papini's caricature of himself (from Testimonies), which appears as the last essay in the present translation, was written soon after the publication of Slashings, and reflects the sensation made by that book.
Testimonies, published in 1918, is a third set of twenty-four essays. They are of the same general character as those contained in Slashings, though the part of invective is somewhat less, and the tone of the book as a whole is quieter.
In selecting the essays to be included in this translation I have chosen, naturally, those which seemed to hold greatest interest for American readers. Most of the persons discussed are figures of world-wide significance; in the few other cases there has seemed to be something of special value in the content of the essay itself.
The translation is deliberately free; for I have endeavored to find the true English expression for Papini's thought.
