The Maverick
George Weidenfeld and the Golden Age of Publishing
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Beschreibung des Verlags
A New York Times Critics' Pick for 2023
Born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1919, George Weidenfeld fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazi regime. There he began a career in publishing that would make him one of the most influential figures in the industry. Over the course of his long and illustrious career he championed some of the most important voices of the twentieth century, from Vladimir Nabokov, Mary McCarthy and Saul Bellow to Harold Wilson, Isaiah Berlin and Henry Kissinger.
But what do we know about the man himself? Was he, as described by some, the 'greatest salesperson', 'the world's best networker', 'the publisher's publisher' and 'a great intellectual'? Was his lifelong effort to be the world's most famous host a cover for his desperate loneliness? Who, in fact, was the real George Weidenfeld and how did he rise so successfully within the ranks of London and New York society? Providing a full, unvarnished and at times difficult history of this complex man, this first biography of a titan of culture is also a story of resilience, determination and the power of ideas to shape history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Biographer Harding (The House by the Lake) provides a revealing look behind the scenes of U.K. publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson focused on its iconoclastic cofounder George Weidenfeld (1919–2016). A champion of "the mavericks, the scandalous, the subversive," Weidenfeld's career spanned from the original British version of Lolita in 1955 to Keith Richards's 2010 rock and roll memoir Life. Harding takes an intriguing approach by looking at Weidenfeld's life story through the lens of specific books he published; each chapter is named for a key title from Weidenfeld and Nicolson's catalog, including Mary McCarthy's novel The Group and James Watson's scientific memoir The Double Helix. Along the way, readers are treated to firsthand accounts of author versus publisher spats, including Saul Bellow's gripes about cover design, and insights into the challenges of managing international rights for a surefire bestseller. Though Harding touches on Weidenfeld's personal life, he focuses more on deals, negotiations, and prima donna authors than on analyzing his subject's motivations. Still, this "investigation into publishing, including its dark arts" will leave readers with a vivid picture of the working life of a publisher.
