"No one perhaps has done as much as the British writer who calls himself George Orwell to persuade former fellow-travelers that their ways lie in some direction other than the Stalinist party line."
So begin the first two paragraphs of this book review that are devoted to the anti-totalitarian elements that animated the creative side of the writer George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair: 1903 – 1950). The novel that is reviewed herein, Coming Up for Air, was originally published in 1939 and was reviewed by Pathfinder Magazine to mark the occasion of the book's first American printing in 1950. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel: 1904 – 1991) was all of 33 years of age when this one page piece of fiction appeared in The Stage Magazine; that same year his first book went to press, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street .
The article is illustrated by one of his delightful drawings that future generations would come to know so well. Command Decision, the World War II novel by William Wister Haines (1908 – 1989), was written from the point of view of a general officer and the Allied effort to destroy the Nazi jet fighters before the Luftwaffe could muster the initiative and get the upper hand; the novel was based upon the author's own wartime experiences serving with the American 8th Air Force in Europe during the Second World War. Haines enjoyed much critical and popular success when the book was released; a 1947 Broadway production ran for 409 performances and a film adaptation premiered in 1948 starring Clark Gable (who also served in the 8th Air Force).
Click here to read the 1947 book review of a William Saroyan war novel. Appearing in the Beverly Hills literary rag, "Rob Wagner's Script" was the 1947 review of The Butterfly by James M. Cain (1892 – 1977): "I have not read Cain's older books to confirm this impression, but offhand I would say that 'The Butterfly' is second to 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', among his longer things, as an exhibition of his peculiar talents...This work concerns itself with incest. Technically, no incest is committed, but a marriage is made and consummated between two people, one of whom supposes that she is the other's daughter..."
From Amazon: The Butterfly Dramatist and author William Saroyan (1908 - 1981) treated the readers of '47 MAGAZINE with a number of his anecdotes concerning his close wartime friendship with W.W. II photographer Robert Capa. They all involve alcohol.
Click here to read an anecdote about Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War.
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