Dickey was thirty-nine when he left advertising and conceived of the plot for Deliverance. Thus midlife crisis spawned the novel and became its content. In the novel four men in canoes, all between thirty-five and forty-six, are about to have a hard look at themselves. Hamilton uses excerpts from the novel to illustrate Levinson's four main polarities: (1) young-old; (2) destruction-creation; (3) masculine-feminine; and (4) attachment-separateness. These constitute the guideposts for successful arrival into middle age. The author carefully documents his assertions. The result is a fine article which should prove to be of interest to students of adult development.