Peter Hempenstall has had a flair for writing biographies over his long career as a historian. All of them have pitched him into tricky situations negotiating with those who are, or consider themselves to be the gatekeepers of his subjects’ reputation.  None more so than the army of ‘stakeholders’ surrounding the life of Derek Freeman, New Zealand anthropologist based in Canberra, who became notorious in the 1980s for writing a book rebutting the theories put forward by Margaret Mead in her studies of sexuality in Samoa. His book led to decades of bitter debate and anger, especially in America, which Hempenstall was drawn into when he decided to write Freeman’s biography: Truth’s Fool. Derek Freeman and the War over Cultural Anthropology. This RAWA Conversation will explore the controversies surrounding Freeman’s life and career, the sensitivities of family and the outrage of anthropologists. The discussion also considers the pitfalls he has encountered writing other biographies and the issues biographers must consider when they dare to write another’s Life.