The flamboyant and irascible Edward Dahlberg (1900-1977) wrote twenty books including, most notably, Because I Was Flesh, his autobiographical masterpiece, which Alfred Kazin called "A work of extraordinary honesty, eloquence, and power." According to Sir Herbert Read: "A great achievement. The magnificent portrait of the author's mother is as relentless, as detailed, as loving as a late Rembrandt." Consigned to...