The Anti-Communist Manifestos
Four Books That Shaped the Cold War
by John Fleming
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The Anti-Communist Manifestos
Among the complex origins of the Cold War, we should never underestimate the role of literature. In The Anti-Communist Manifestos, John Fleming explores four books that altered the course of history: Darkness at Noon (1940), by Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian journalist and polymath intellectual; Out of the Night (1941), by Jan Valtin, a German sailor and labor agitator; I Chose Freedom (1946), by Victor Kravchenko, a Soviet engineer and Witness (1952), by Whittaker Chambers, an American journalist.
While the four volumes at the heart of Fleming’s book are fundamentally different from one another, they share striking similarities. The authors were all ex-Communist Party members whose bitter disillusionment led them to turn on their former allegiance in literary fury. Koestler was a rapist, Valtin a thug. Kravchenko, though not a spy, was forced to live like one in America. Chambers was a prophet without honor in his own land. Three of the four had been underground espionage agents of the Comintern. All contemplated suicide, and two of them achieved it.
Fleming’s humane and ironic narrative of these grim lives reveals that words were among the true driving forces behind the Cold War.
Softcover : 352 pages
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc. ( August 01, 2009 )
Item #: 12-955293
ISBN: 9781616641092
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.88inches
Product Weight: 11.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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