The Hard Way is Frank Hardy's dramatic story of the writing and publishing of 'Power Without Glory', his arrest, trial for criminal libel and subsequent acquittal. Described as 'one of the most underrated books published in Australia', it appears at a time when the legend of John Wren is once again under the public scrutiny. 
 
The Hard Way paints a vivid picture of Australia in the late forties and early fifties, gripped by the hysteria of McCarthyism. The phenomenon of 'Power Without Glory' can only be properly understood against the background of those intolerable times.