Glamorous, talented, audacious-- Lillian Hellman knew everyone, did everything, had been everywhere. By the age of 29 she had written 'The Children's Hour', the first of four hit Broadway plays, and soon she was considered a member of America's first rank of dramatists. Apart from her work, Hellman lived a rich life filled with notable friendships, political activity and controversy, travel and love affairs, most importantly with Dashiell Hammett. But by the time she died, the truth about her life and accomplishments had been called into question. Scandals attached to her name to do with sex, money and with her own veracity. Gallagher confronts the conundrum that was Lillian Hellman-- a woman with a capacity to inspire outrage as often as admiration. Exploring Hellman's leftist politics, her Jewish and Southern background and her famous testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Gallagher also undertakes a new reading of Hellman's carefully crafted memoirs and plays, in which she is both revealed and hidden.