Ford Madox Ford wrote some of the best English prose of the twentieth century, mastering and metamorphosing all its major forms. He was also an innovative and influential poet, as well as the century's greatest literary editor. In this first volume of a two-volume life Saunders examines Ford's growth and development as a writer, against the background of an often turbulent emotional life. He uses newly discovered writings and letters to ensure the most exhaustive synthesis of critical and biographical research.