This novel combines Tosches' vast scholarship about The Divine Comedy, Dante Alleghieri, and the Middle Ages, with an equally vast and intimate knowledge of the lowest murdering scum of New York's ugliest streets. In the the Hand of Dante is a work of astounding audacity and beauty, the masterwork that Nick Tosches has been building toward for years. Some will find it offensive; others will declare it transcendent; it is certain to be the most ragingly debated novel of the decade.