In the early 1920s, the English author and critic D. H. Lawrence arrived in Australia, escaping, as he saw it, from the narrow nationalism and political chaos of post-World War One Europe. Lawrence reflected deeply while in Australia about the factors undermining democratic governance. In his novel Kangaroo, he explained the temptations to seek solace both in the emergent far right and far left, before settling for a more pessimistic reading of the future of democratic politics. In so doing, he sparked a whole generation of deep reflection on the perils and possibilities of democratic politics, encompassing the work of literary luminaries as George Orwell, Dylan Thomas and Laurie Lee. Almost one hundred years later, we again face a period of deep democratic doubt, with serious scholars the world over explaining “how democracies die” and speculating as to the factors shaping a new authoritarian future. In this paper, I return to Lawrence and his contemporaries to assess how powerful their responses may be when confronted with the troubles of our age.