“Max Eastman spent the first half of his life trying to fit himself into larger frameworks: Christianity (provided, somewhat unorthodoxly, by his mother); feminism (promoted even more unconventionally by his sister); and then socialism (advocated by his uncompromising first wife). When each ideology appeared to fit Max into prescribed patterns of institutional behavior— of the church, the party, or any other organization—he balked. Max spent the second half of his life looking for an ideological home while trying to defend himself against those who seemed to know exactly what he was thinking and where he belonged.”