Henry Lawson was a deeply divided man. He was a soul burdened with an insatiable craving for love, a combative spirit with impossible hopes that mankind might sort itself out. Yet, he openly loathed huge sections of humanity and sang the blessings of war. Manning Clark intimately reconstructs Lawson's agonising, and ultimately unsuccessful search for fulfilment of genius and happiness. The great irony is that Lawson's poetry inspired the feeling that life was worth living.