This study includes such figures as Henry James, Bernard Berenson, and Gertrude Stein, and their activities in travel writing, art criticism, and art hostessing. According to the book, this study "probes the developments of Eurocentric high culture both in its own terms--in terms, that is, of authorship--and in its broader-based connections to cultural institutions and American society more generally." Topics discussed include the travel writer as pilgrim, Impressionism and cultural authority, art hostesses and women's high-cultural authority, and career authority and the public in high culture. Author information is not given. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR