This book provides an incisive reading of the problems with Rorty's public private distinction, his valorization of the figure of the strong poet, and his conception of solidarity. Rothleder argues that Rorty lacks a conception of friendship which would rescue him from the isolation inherent in the life of a strong poet. She draws on ideas in contemporary continental philosophy, education, and feminism to develop a model of friendship that would achieve Rorty's goal of ending humiliation without invoking the problematic figure of the strong poet.