A rounded portrait, venereal scars and all, of one of the prime movers of the Romantic movement.

Ingenious.

Its debt to existing biographies is large, but its mosaic structure deftly deals with Byron’s evolutions.

We hear Byron’s rapid-fire conversational voice on the page.

Lively and well-illustrated.

Andrew Stauffer’s new book... [presents] 10 letters from transitional periods of Byron’s life alongside lively, accessible commentaries.

A compact biography, elegantly structured around a few choice pickings from the poet’s correspondence..

Scintillating.

Stauffer dedicates a fair amount of space to explaining the many references in the letters, but he’s also careful to maintain a lively narrative of Byron’s life, clear about his many flaws but clarifying why he was such a commanding figure..