The "Sammy" of this remarkable correspondence was a young American professor of English when Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice B. Toklas, first knew him in the thirties. He visited the two famous ladies at their villa in France, and there grew up between him and them a relationship that became a tribute to true friendship. "Sammy" appreciated them - and they, in turn, appreciated him, sharing with him both the homely details of their daily lives and their larger concerns.
The correspondence covers a period of more than thirty years ending in 1967 with the death of Alice. Steward saw the two women close up and remained always a friend, never a rival. This explains, perhaps, why his portrait of them is unique - he found them warm and vulnerable, whereas others were apt to experience them as merely formidable. His long preface to the letters creates their world and the cadence of their speech - especially Gertrude's - to perfection.