Joseph McBride is an internationally renowned film historian, biographer, and critic who has written twenty-two other books, including acclaimed biographies of Frank Capra, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg.

A Note to the Reader; Introduction: The Taciturn Two; 1. Heartless Cynics?; 2. "The Pleasure of Mixing Things Around"; 3. Caricature and Empathy; 4. A Grand Design; 5. Skewed Perspectives; 6. "In the Beginning There Was Fear"; 7. "This Cockeyed Caravan"; 8. "Magic * Mirth * Mystery" in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Filmography; Selected Sources on the Coen Brothers; Index.