"John Sutherland has written a superlative biography. He has combined tact with a straightforwardness like Spender's own. His study also challenges the misconceptions that have surrounded Spender since the 1960s. Sutherland emphasizes that he was not like the other poets of his time with whom he is so often grouped. Spender is--and I think will remain--very much his own man and his own poet."--John Bayley, New Statesman "Masterly.... Vibrant, humane, anecdote-packed."--John Carey, Sunday Times (London)