The Agony and the Eggplant is the first book-length study of author, illustrator, and radio personality, Daniel Pinkwater. Pinkwater began writing and illustrating children's books in 1970 and has been a prolific author for three decades. He has written over 70 books altogether: more than fifty picture books, a dozen books for middle-grade or intermediate readers, half a dozen books for adolescents, an adult novel, and several books of nonfiction.

Pinkwater is a humorist, and many of his stories involve science fiction or fantasy themes. He is often compared with Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut; his style is often likened to Monty Python and Mad magazine. Pinkwater's fiction has often been described as "wacky" and "zany;" The Agony and the Eggplant will go beyond those cliches to place Pinkwater as a classical satirist, an American humorist, and a master of children's literature. Sprinkled with quotes and observations from Pinkwater, Hogan gives us a highly entertaining look at the man responsible for some of the most unique young adult fiction on the market.