"Herbert K. Russell conveys the internal contradictions that drove Masters throughout his life and kept the happiness, love, security, and success he dreamed of always out of reach. Masters was one of America's most prolific authors, publishing fifty-three books during his lifetime; yet only one of his works afforded him lasting recognition. He was a successful Chicago lawyer, yet he detested the practice of law and always regarded it as an obstacle to his writing. He married twice but constantly pursued other women, seeking an elusive combination of intellectual compatibility, sexual fireworks, and uncritical admiration. After Spoon River Anthology, Masters too often shunned the terse, compact style of the poems that helped revolutionize American poetry, displaying throughout his career an inability to distinguish between trash and treasure in his own work.".