Was Lord Byron "mad, bad and dangerous to know" as Lady Caroline Lamb averred? Does the popular picture of him bear scrutiny? The best way to find out is to hear from the man himself. Byron's works were enormously varied; their portent changed as his life moved from the uncomfortable ease of Britain to the stimulating exile of Europe, and Italy in particular. It is in his personal writings that we are able to tie together all of his disparities, both of work and personal reputation, into a unified whole. These 284 letters and letter-excerpts vividly portray a magnificently independent man of...