The Gatekeeper: A Memoir

Eagleton's lengthy chapter on the Labour movement in Britain, although it does have touches of brilliant satire, is unlikely to be of as much interest to American readers as some of his other chapters in which he discusses Catholics in England or the anthropology of Oxbridge, for example. At his best, Eagleton is both funny and sharply insightful. And it is worth wading through the longueurs to find these places.

Eagleton has long been a major and uncompromising thinker. But, just as much, he is also an excellent writer. This is a good book to read as a 'refresher' if you have read other books by Eagleton, and a good book to begin with if you have not. You might or might not always agree with Eagleton, but he will make you think, laugh and, if you are honest with yourself, perhaps rethink some of your convictions. Above all, he is one of those very few important thinkers whose intricate thinking does not plough their prose into turgidity.