The average burglar or prostitute or queen, like the Unknown Soldier, is necessarily anonymous; and the insatiable thirst for contemporary autobiography is due rather to a desire to experience vicariously the excitement of an exceptional life than to acquire information about ordinary people in whom the reader may recognize his like. Each autobiographer is concerned to portray himself, not as he is, but as he would wish to be – experienced and traveled, yet innocent and eager; fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea,; given equally to piping through the valleys wild and to wagons-lits, tough enough to kill, and tender enough to love, and err, and expose injustices, and espouse righteous causes.