The Maverick

George Weidenfeld and the Golden Age of Publishing

Thomas Harding

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2023
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639364466
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: Literature

The captivating story of the famed publisher George Weidenfeld, from his struggles as an Austrian-Jewish refugee in London to his rise as a world-renowned literary figure. After arriving in London just before World War Two as a penniless Austrian-Jewish refugee, George Weidenfeld went on to transform not only the world of publishing but the culture of ideas. The booksthat 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, JD Salinger, and Edna O'Brien toHenry Miller, Harold Wilson, Saul Bellow, and Henry Kissinger. His role as publisher brought him into the orbit of influential figures such as George Bush, Ann Getty, Donald Trump, and LBJ.In this first biography, Thomas Harding provides a full, unvarnished, and at times difficult history ofthis complex and fascinating character. Throughout his long career, he was written about in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Vanity Fair, and other publications. Was he, as described by some, the "greatest salesperson, " "the world's bestnetworker, " "the publisher's publisher, " and "a great intellectual"? Washis lifelong effort to be the world's most famous host a cover for his desperate loneliness? Who, in fact, was the real George Weidenfeldand how did he rise so successfully within the ranks of New York and London society?Drawing on author correspondence, internal memos, and other documents buried deep in the secret publishing files of Weidenfeld &Nicolson, Harding 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 withexplorations of contemporary concerns such as cancel culture, the right to publish, freedom of speech, and separating the art from the artist, The Maverick tells thecaptivating story behind the life of this iconic publisher.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• List of Illustrations
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Arthur’s Diary, 1919
• Chapter 2: The Goebbels Experiment, 1942
• Chapter 3: The Hedgehog and the Fox, 1953
• Chapter 4: A Young Girl’s Touch, 1956
• Chapter 5: Lolita, 1959
• Chapter 6: The Group, 1963
• Chapter 7: Herzog, 1965
• Chapter 8: [Redacted], 1967
• Chapter 9: The Double Helix, 1968
• Chapter 10: Mary Queen of Scots, 1969
• Chapter 11: The Governance of Britain, 1976
• Chapter 12: Unity Mitford: A Quest, 1976
• Chapter 13: Yoni: Hero of Entebbe, 1979
• Chapter 14: In the Eye of the Storm, 1982
• Chapter 15: Mick Jagger, 1985
• Chapter 16: Catcher in the Rye II, 1987
• Chapter 17: Remembering My Good Friends, 1994
• Chapter 18: Letters from Oxford, 2004
• Chapter 19: Obit, 2016
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright