Skip to content
The Maverick: George Weidenfeld and the Golden Age of Publishing (Paperback)
  • The Maverick: George Weidenfeld and the Golden Age of Publishing (Paperback)
zoom

The Maverick: George Weidenfeld and the Golden Age of Publishing (Paperback)

(author)
£12.99
Paperback 336 Pages
Published: 29/08/2024
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • 5+ in stock

Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • This item has been added to your basket

After arriving in London just before the Second World War as a penniless and friendless Austrian-Jewish refugee, George Weidenfeld went on to transform not only the world of publishing but the culture of ideas. The books that he published include momentous titles such as Lolita, Double Helix, The Group and The Hedgehog and the Fox, with authors he championed ranging from Joan Didion, Mary McCarthy and Edna O'Brien to Henry Miller, Harold Wilson, Saul Bellow and Henry Kissinger.

In this first biography, Thomas Harding provides a full, unvarnished and at times difficult history of this complex and fascinating character and crafts a portrait of the publisher's life that is inextricable from the efforts and intricacies of putting a book into the world. Structured around twenty books associated with George Weidenfeld, and intercut with explorations of contemporary concerns such as the right to publish, freedom of speech and separating the art from the artist, The Maverick tells the captivating story behind the life of this iconic publisher.

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781474621106
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 240 g
Dimensions: 196 x 126 x 22 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

A history of the golden age of publishing from the perspective of one man . . . fascinating - Anne de Courcy, SPECTATOR

A marvellous biography . . . Thomas Harding has brought a great publisher and the shenanigans of the book trade gloriously to life - Jilly Cooper, DAILY MAIL

An entertaining biography . . . The Maverick is packed with fascinating accounts of book deals and debacles during the 'golden age of publishing,' as well as plenty of high-society gossip - WASHINGTON POST

Thomas Harding's admirably even-handed and readable biography places Weidenfeld in both his social and cultural contexts, never excusing his more dubious actions, but also celebrating his undeniable pizzazz, application and drive - Alexander Larman, OBSERVER

The Maverick anchors George Weidenfeld as one of the foremost influencers in modern literature and a man who rose from extraordinary circumstances to lead an even more extraordinary life and legacy. A treasure trove of insight and history - ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

Meticulously researched, cunningly constructed and compellingly written. A vivid account of publishing's glory years told through the action-packed life of one of its most charismatic pioneers - ANTHONY HOLDEN

The Maverick recalls a champion of ideas with a knack for networking and a taste for the high life . . . an organizational feat - NEW YORK TIMES

Uncovers the secrets of a chameolonic outsider who made himself a fixture of the cultural establishment . . . [A] compact, unfussy and well-sourced life - Financial Times

George Weidenfeld was a titan of a man, an irresistible character and something of a genius. This book does him full justice - SIMON HEFFER, author of THE AGE OF DECADENCE and HIGH MINDS

[George Weidenfeld] modernized Britain's small but influential publishing sector. . . The Maverick traces the parallel arcs of Weidenfeld's career and postwar publishing through his contacts and contracts . . . a skillful and subtle study in biography, British attitudes and the book business - Dominic Green, WALL STREET JOURNAL

Like George Weidenfeld himself, Thomas Harding's accomplishment is substantial, lively and full of interest. The Maverick is a fine biography - HENRY KISSINGER

Harding has fun detailing his subject's four marriages and associated romantic interludes . . . We're always on the edge, wondering if George, the cosmopolitan charmer who made it to the House of Lords, will pull another cracker from the hat - Andrew Lycett, DAILY MAIL

Offers a behind-the-scenes peek at an imprint that published some of the most seminal works of the 20th century, when books, and the ideas within them, were far more revered. A golden age indeed - IRISH TIMES

A fascinating biography of an unlikely cultural hero. I couldn't put it down - ALAN POSENER, journalist for Die Welt

The Maverick is a vivid portrait, warts and all, of perhaps the most successful publisher in post-war Britain. But it is much more than this - a gripping study of the assimilation of Jewish emigres into Britain's strangely rigid but porous class system, a guide to the golden age of publishing, an analysis of post-war intellectual life through a succession of landmark books - ADRIAN WOOLDRIDGE, Bloomberg Opinion

If a publisher can be called a genius . . . [George Weidenfeld] undoubtedly merits a place on this list. [He made] an astounding contribution to the world of literature and ideas. The riveting standout among Harding's chapters is the story of Weidenfeld's publication, in 1976, of David Pryce-Jones's biography of Unity Mitford - Mark Bostridge, THE OLDIE

Weidenfeld was perhaps the most well-connected man in the Western world, whose calls to politicians, thinkers, business leaders and philanthropists - even popes - would always be taken. The strength of Thomas Harding's biography is the context it provides . . . by structuring the book as a series of chapters telling the stories behind Weidenfeld's publication of various key books, and then diverting within those stories to other aspects of his life - ignoring chronology to explore what made Weidenfeld tick, what he was interested in and what he was doing - The Maverick well reflects Weidenfeld himself, who was never at any time focused on just one thing . . . a sensitive and worthy study of a great man - THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

[An] intriguing life story - SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

A revealing look behind the scenes . . . Harding takes an intriguing approach by looking at Weidenfeld's life story through the lens of specific books he published. Along the way, readers are treated to firsthand accounts of author versus publisher spats and insights into the challenges of managing international rights for a surefire bestseller . . . will leave readers with a vivid picture of the working life of a publisher - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Thomas Harding has doggedly unearthed fascinating and surprising tales from George Weidenfeld's life as he rose from poverty and Nazi persecution to become one of the world's most powerful publishers. Harding reveals a complex personality in a richly told narrative that leaves the reader awed - LYNN MEDFORD, former editor, Washington Post Magazine

[George Weidenfeld] was fascinating in many ways. [He] had more backbone than most . . . his life was courageous, too - THE ECONOMIST

You may also be interested in...

The Haunted Wood
Added to basket
Hardback
£30.00
Down and Out in Paris and London
Added to basket
The Year of Magical Thinking
Added to basket
Super-Infinite
Added to basket
Ian Fleming
Added to basket
Book Of Lives
Added to basket
Knife
Added to basket
Hardback
£20.00 £16.99
Jane Austen Playing Cards
Added to basket
Wifedom
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99
Agatha Christie
Added to basket
Jane Austen at Home
Added to basket
Free
Added to basket
Paperback
£10.99

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.