A more concentrated, better focussed book than The Fifth Seal, which resulted in so much controversy when it appeared -- and not open to the same possibilities as it is a fictionized biography of Byron. News reel technique is used to cover Byron's years of exile, and the compulsions that turned him toward the cause of Greek freedom. From his introduction to the Carbonari in Venice, to Castlereagh in London, his too liberal attitudes and eventual madness, Wellington, George IV, the Duchess of Parma, Tear Alexander I, the Congress of Vorona -- these are the people, events, forces, which each in their way, affect the final decision of Byron to join with the Greek Revolutionists and give up the Countess Teresa Guiccioli. From that kaleidoscope the author turns to concentration on Byron in Missolonghi, through the eyes of a humble spy; on the town's lunatic assembly of nationalities gathered in the cause; on the project of the march to Lpanto, the revolt of the Sulicts, the murder of a Swedish officer, the earthquake -- attributed at first to Byron's experimental rockets a photomontage of character, period and social significance. And against it Byron, and the attitude of the patriots toward him as Master of Strategy alive, and hero dead.