Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-279) and index.
Introduction / Carol J. Singley -- Edith Wharton, 1862-1937: a brief biography / Shari Benstock -- Wharton's women: in fashion, in history, out of time / Martha Banta -- Emerson, Darwin, and The custom of the country / Cecelia Tichi -- Wharton's "others": addiction and intimacy / Dale M. Bauer -- Wharton, travel, and modernity / Nancy Bentley -- Wharton and art / Eleanor Dwight -- Wharton and the age of film / Linda Costanzo Cahir -- Illustrated chronology -- Bibliographical essay: visions and revisions of Wharton / Clare Colquitt