This book was incredibly shocking at the time it was published, partly because it introduced depictions of sex. Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House”, was at the time rightfully considered almost sacred in terms of the liberation of women, and his criticism of the play (in this book) invited a storm of fury to rain down on him. His criticisms are in the preface, and so is Strindberg’s short story response that he gave the same title, “A Doll’s House”. His criticism has sharp edges, but whatever is said about Ibsen’s play, it arrived on the world stage like a tremendous canon blast.