The Last Englishman by Roland Chambers
Arthur Ransome was, in the mid-twentieth century, what J.K. Rowling is today: author of a series of children's books which shaped the imagination of a generation. Rooted in the heyday of the British Empire, "Swallows and Amazons" and its sequels described a nostalgic Utopia. Yet before that, Arthur Ransome, famous for different reasons. Between 1917 and 1924, as Russian correspondent for the "Daily News" and "Manchester Guardian", he was an uncritical apologist for the Bolshevik regime, with unique access to the revolutionary leaders. As the Red Army engaged with an Allied invasion of Russia, Ransome was conducting a love affair with Evgenia Shelepina, private secretary to Leon Trotsky, then Soviet Commissar for War. As the intimate friend of Karl Radek, the Bolshevik Chief of Propaganda, he denied the Red Terror and compared Lenin to Oliver Cromwell. No English journalist was considered more controversial, or more damaging to British security. This is a fascinating, often chilling revision of an English icon through the most formative decade of the twentieth century.
Roland Chambers studied film and literature in Poland and at New York University before returning to England in 1998. He has worked as a private investigator specialising in Russian politics and business, and is also a children's author. He currently divides his time between London and Connecticut, where his wife teaches literature at Yale. The Last Englishman is his first biography.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780571222612 |
| ISBN 10 | 0571222617 |
| Title | The Last Englishman |
| Author | Roland Chambers |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year published | 2009-08-20 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Biographers' Club Prize for Best First Biography 2009 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |