Boswell seems to have been somehow an adoring fan, drinking buddy, conversational contender, and needy friend all rolled into one. After taking his part in years and years and pages and pages of linguistic fireworks at Johnson’s side, we find a sudden attack of the teenage girl.

The author, Calvin Elliott, has a simple thesis: any interest on any loan is usury. Theft. A crime. Period. It’s not every day that someone makes Belloc look like a permissive capitalist.

To tip your laptop sideways and drain a pint of water is to cross a certain frontier.