Between the Wars: Essays and Letters

Booklist

A sympathetic portrait of the writer...a new perspective on issues that were of concern to literary communities during this period.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This gathering of Huxley's neglected essays and broadcasts from the 1930s dispels the image of him as an aloof highbrow and reveals the range of his social and political commitments. Around the time he wrote Brave New World , which expressed disdain for mass culture, the English novelist also published several reports on the plight of the unemployed, the homeless and the exploitation of British workers. An early, outspoken opponent of Hitler and of British fascists, Huxley briefly became an ardent proponent of Soviet-style central planning, embracing policies he seemed to revile in his dystopian novel. Skillfully edited by Oxford fellow Bradshaw, these 28 selections give us several disparate Huxleys--the supporter of eugenics and compulsory sterilization of mental defectives, the critic of unregulated technological progress, the shrewd analyst of the mass psychology of fascism, the disciple of H. L. Mencken. (July)

Library Journal

For the centenary of Huxley's birth this year, editor Bradshaw, a fellow at Oxford University and biographer of Huxley, has assembled 28 previously uncollected articles published during the interwar years. Although Huxley is now primarily known as a detached satirist of human society and its conventions, thanks to novels such as Brave New World and Crome Yellow, Bradshaw argues that he was far more politically aware and sympathetic than his currently available work would indicate. His early admiration for the American social critic H.L. Mencken tapered off as Huxley became disenchanted with Mencken's antidemocratic beliefs. The articles featured here show Huxley eschewing authoritarian solutions and promoting social unity following the rise of Hitler and fascism. Bradshaw has carefully selected works from Huxley's massive journalistic output to support his views; it would be interesting to see the entire corpus of Huxley's work again in print. For comprehensive literature collections.-Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale

Booknews

Contains 28 previously unpublished letters and essays written from 1930-1936 documenting Huxley's transformation from advocate for elitist rule into a point man for the anti-fascist intelligentsia and a spokesman for the dispossessed. Subjects include art and literature, social commentary, democracy, facism, and authoritarianism. Includes correspondence between Huxley and H.L. Mencken, 1920-1926, and H.G. Wells, 1927-1935. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR booknews.com