A.N. Wilson's biography is one of the few studies of Scott to pay due attention both to his life and to his phenomenal literary output. Scott's genius, his humaneness, and his splendid qualities of stoicism and sympathy shine through, in this enthusiastic reassessment of the man who Byron `longed to get drunk with', and who influenced figures as diverse as Queen Victoria, Dickens, Donizetti, Pugin, and Victor Hugo.