A collection of poetry by Richard Johnston ranging from the personal to the planetary. These poems arise from a warm heart and a sharp and skeptical intelligence. As a history professor and inveterate globe trotter, Johnston has spent a lifetime reflecting on mankind's follies and failures to live up to its ideals. His poetry spares no one, no creed, no doctrinaire craziness, but still manages to celebrate elemental and abiding human passions, and delights. A critique leavened with humor-these poems ring true. They will make you smile, although sometimes ruefully.