HERE IS A CHARMING BOOK OF BELLES lettres from the shrewd and witty stylist whom Susan Cheever has called "one of the best writers alive."This delightful series of short essays explores friendship in its various forms from true intimacy to professional detente between rivals. The friendships, literary and political, span two continents and three centuries Boswell and Johnson, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Richelieu and Father Joseph, FDR and Harry Hopkins, Edith Wharton and Margaret Chanler sixteen sketches in all.Auchincloss approaches his subjects with grace, tact, and insight, subtly defining the peculiar, gentle chemistry on which pla-tonic bonds depend. The result is a surprising array of social patterns and personal destinies, all stemming from the simple desire for human company.