Some shelfwear/edgewear but still NICE! -may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD HARDCOVER Standard-sized.

Some shelfwear/edgewear but still NICE! -may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD HARDCOVER Standard-sized.

New York. 1982. Macmillan. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket.

New York. 1982. Macmillan. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0025476602. 398 pages. hardcover. Cover design by Jackie Merri Meyer. Signed by the Author. keywords: Literature Biography Arthur Koestler England Hungary. FROM THE PUBLISHER-One of the Free World's most important writers, Arthur Koestler has led a life as turbulent, dynamic, and multi-textured as any of his compelling works. Born in Budapest in 1905 and educated in Vienna, he became a foreign correspondent in Palestine for a German newspaper syndicate: a career decision that would set the stage for his later role in international affairs. Disenchantment with Zionism led to his conversion to Communism, and he was transferred to Paris. Subsequent writing assignments took him around Europe, including a lengthy stay in the Soviet Union and a tour of duty covering the Spanish Civil War, during which he was jailed and almost executed by the Nationalists. Then, at the outbreak of World War Il, Koestler was confined in a French concentration camp, served a stint in the Foreign Legion, and escaped to England. It was here he published his most famous work-the novel Darkness at Noon, a scathing denunciation of Stalinism-and soon thereafter joined the British army. After the war he played an effective role in persuading the intellectuals of Western Europe to support the cause of democracy during the Cold War and met many of Europe's most influential literary and political figures. Politics, however, has hardly been Koestler's sole concern. His inquisitive nature has led him to write on such widely diverse subjects as capital punishment, hallucinogenic drugs, the state of literature and of science, and the nature of humor. In this full-length portrait, Iain Hamilton conveys the character of the man as well as the thinker, both public and private. inventory #35281.