Swirski is the author of twelve books of American literature and culture, Stanislaw Lem, and theory of knowledge.

In the first half of the book, Swirski details the historical facts behind the functioning of popular fiction, and discusses the concept of genres and the nobrow aesthetics.

Supported by statistics, illustrations, and case studies, the author asks for a more serious examination of popular literature.

Because of its mass appeal, critics and academics are quick to conclude that popular literature is lowbrow art.

He demonstrates his arguments in the second half of the book by analyzing three "nobrow" works: Karel Čapek's War With the Newts (1936), Raymond Chandler's Playback (1958), and Stanislaw Lem's The Chain of Chance (1976).