"'Convincing and vivid, Damrosch has let us glimpse the human roots of Swift's sometimes inhuman irony.' (John Mullan, The Guardian) 'The enigma of Swift's life and character continues to tease us. This magisterial biography reminded me how much, in his writings, there is to relish.' (A. N. Wilson, The Tablet) 'Damrosch's approach is forensic... the Swift who emerges from these patient investigations is a more rounded personality.' (George Walden, The Times) 'Damrosch is incisive about Swift's personality and writes with fine Swiftian clarity, but does not simplify. He acknowledges that, investigating Swift, you run into a revolving door of contradictions. But Damrosch sees him, rightly, not just as a tragic figure but as a fearless thinker whose works are an antidote to optimism's happy lies.' (John Carey, London Sunday Times) 'Leo Damrosch has written a conscientious and worthy book, full of meat and handsomely illustrated.' (Paul Johnson, Literary Review) 'Leo Damrosch conjures up Jonathan Swift with hallucinatory vividness, allowing the contradictions of this baffling, elusive genius full rein. He recovers in rich detail the world in which Gulliver's Travels and other enduring masterpieces were created. This is a brilliant and humane biography.' (Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern)"