Arthur Koestler

Without exaggeration, Arthur Koestler (1905 - 1983) can be described as the most versatile and committed writer of the 20th century. As a journalist and bestselling author ("Darkness at Noon"), as a political activist, and in his private life, he explored boundaries and extremes like no one else. Christian Buckard narrates the daring and endlessly curious life of Arthur Koestler, from his childhood in Budapest to his suicide in exile in London. The Hungarian-Jewish writer and journalist Arthur Koestler was not one of those intellectuals who, like Brecht or Sartre, wanted to change the world from the safety of their desks. When he was convinced of something, he was willing to risk everything for it: In the 1920s, he fought with anti-Semites as a student in Vienna, and lived as a kibbutznik, lemonade seller, and reporter in Palestine.