Whether recounting events from his past or examining the details of his current experience as a writer, teacher, traveler, and general witness of the world, Reynolds Price shows us how a writer finds meaning in the day-to-day details of living. In this engaging collection of fifty-two personal essays originally aired on NPR's <I>All Things Considered,</I> Price explores topics that range from family and faith to capital punishment and his adventures while navigating an immensely inaccessible America in a wheelchair. Throughout, Price never loses sight of the origin or spirit of the essay -- in French, <I>essayer</I> means to try or attempt -- and each piece is a well-informed, revealing, often amusing and refreshing foray into a moment unlike any other we've shared with him.