Robert Hughes, one of the most illuminating minds ever to have taken on the subjects of art and culture, uses his same critical abilities to give us a brutally intimate account of his early life, up until the time he quit Australia for the United States.

Part memoir, part history lesson, part philosophical tract, Hughes uses his own experiences to examine the nature of art, war, sex, religion, writing and life itself.

Piercing, razor-sharp, and above all, fearless, this is by far Hughes's most personal writing to date.