Synopses & Reviews
The first major biography of legendary war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, whose life provides a unique and thrilling perspective on world history in an extraordinary timeMartha Gellhorn's heroic career as a reporter brought her to the front lines of virtually every significant international conflict between the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Cold War. The preeminent-and often the only-female correspondent on the scene, she broke new ground for women in the male preserve of journalism. Her wartime dispatches, marked by a passionate desire to expose suffering in its many guises and an inimitable immediacy, rank among the best of the twentieth century.
A deep-seated love of travel complemented this interest in world affairs. From her birth in St. Louis in 1908 to her death in London in 1998, Gellhorn passed through Africa, Cuba, China, and most of the great cities of Europe, recording her experiences in first-rate travel writing and fiction. A tall, glamorous blonde, she made friends easily-among the boldface names that populated her life were Eleanor Roosevelt, Leonard Bernstein, and H. G. Wells-but she was as incapable of settling into comfortable long-term relationships as she was of sitting still, and happiness often eluded her despite her professional success. Both of her marriages ended badly-the first, to Ernest Hemingway, publicly so.
Drawn from extensive interviews and with exclusive access to Gellhorn's papers and correspondence, this seminal biography spans half the globe and almost an entire century to offer an exhilarating, intimate portrait of one of the defining women of our times.
Review
"Imagine a cross between Dorothies Parker and Thompson in the body of Katharine Hepburn and you have an approximation of Martha Gellhorn, a woman who never met a war zone, a culture, a male ego, or an exercise routine from which she shied. Caroline Moorehead has resurrected her beautifully in this vivid and seamless biography." -Stacy Schiff
Review
"[Moorehead gives] us not just the usual account of the career and the public person but an intimate look at the private person."
-The Washington Post Book World
"Gripping . . . [told] with historical command and psychological insight."
-The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
"Richly satisfying...[An] exemplary biography." --Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
Martha Gellhorn's career as a reporter brought her to the front lines of every significant international conflict between the Spanish Civil War and the Cold War. This seminal work spans half the globe and an entire century to offer an exhilarating, intimate portrait of one of the defining women of our times.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [425]-436) and index.
About the Author
Caroline Moorehead is a distinguished biographer, book reviewer, and journalist. Her biographies of Iris Origo and Bertrand Russell were both
New York Times Notable Books.She will edit a collection of Gellhorn's letters, to be published by Henry Holt in 2004, and is also writing a book about the international refugee crisis. She lives in London.