JACK L. CAPPS NOTES in the opening line of the preface to his Emily Dickinson's Reading (1966) that the poet's “voluntary seclusion has often been mistakenly equated to intellectual isolation” (vii). Dickinson, as Capps's book demonstrates, was highly attuned to her society. She was an avid reader of current events, literary journalism, contemporary as well as classic literature, and, especially in her formative years, a devotee of innovative religious and scientific discourse. She was privy (despite the restrictions imposed on her gender) to her lawyer/civic activist father's and brother's professional activities. Her personal and family friends included journalists, theologians, educators, scientists, and publishers (or their spouses or children). The importance of this for her art, according to Capps, is that through her keen awareness of her surroundings and especially through her extensive reading, Dickinson acquired her vicarious experience and perspective and made her perceptive observations and penetrating analyses possible (145).