Review by Booklist Review
If the name Arthur George Weidenfeld is unfamiliar to the casual reader, the list of books bearing his imprint is evidence of his enormous impact during decades in publishing. From the groundbreaking surprise best-seller, Isaiah Berlin's The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953), to Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (1955) and Mary McCarthy's The Group (1963), Weidenfeld proved to possess two important traits, a keen eye for talent and a clear lack of fear. As a young man, he escaped Austria just ahead of the Nazi occupation. While his parents soon followed him to England, both grandmothers died in the Holocaust. He became a savvy dealmaker professionally and personally, marrying into wealth more than once. Despite early success, his firm lacked financial stability. Weidenfeld, however, delivered again with the publication of The Double Helix (1968), a landmark, perennial best- seller. Other cultural touchstones, such as Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and Joan Didion's The White Album (1979), would follow, as would multiple Booker Prize--winning titles and celebrity memoirs. While it has been written, "To recount George's progress from little Arthur to today's Lord Weidenfeld might require the talents of Boswell and Pepys," Harding admirably details Weidenfeld's ascent from refugee to a leading figure who shaped our culture and intellectual firmament.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Aug.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The life story of the complex man at the forefront of British publishing. With access to archival sources and interviews, Harding, author of Blood on the Page and Hanns and Rudolf, creates an interesting biography of George Weidenfeld (1919-2016), the publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat who had "a bottomless appetite for social engagement." As co-founder of the esteemed publishing house Weidenfeld & Nicolson, he was an influential cultural figure from 1948, when the firm began, until his death. Born in Austria, the only child of doting parents, he fled to London in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. Soon, he found a position with BBC's Overseas Intelligence Department, and in 1942, he co-authored The Goebbels Experiment: A Study of the Nazi Propaganda Machine, which convinced him that "he loved the process of publication" more than "the hard work of writing." With Nigel Nicolson as editor and investor, publishing became Weidenfeld's life's work. His aim was "to publish authors whose voices were normally shunned by mainstream publishers: the mavericks, the scandalous, the subversive." Harding focuses each chapter on a book from their impressive list, including Nabokov's Lolita, which raised the challenge of censorship; Herzog, by the prickly Saul Bellow; Mary McCarthy's The Group, which some readers found scandalous; James Watson's Double Helix; Isaiah Berlin's The Hedgehog and the Fox, the firm's first commercial success; and Weidenfeld's autobiography. His personal life was volatile: His first marriage to the wealthy Jane Sieff, in 1952, ended in 1955 because of his "casual infidelities." Their daughter was born in 1953. A tempestuous love affair with the wife of Cyril Connolly led to a marriage that lasted only two years. His third wife was an American heiress; they divorced, too. His fourth wife outlived him. Harding recounts Weidenfeld's lifelong commitment to Israel's fortunes and his numerous philanthropic endeavors. Knighted in 1969, he became a baronet in 1976, honored, finally--though controversially--by the British establishment. A sympathetic, discerning portrait of a publishing titan. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
