One commonly held image of Aldous Huxley is that of an arrogant aesthete living in Italy, engaged in the business from the 1920's and 1930's, however, a considerably different and more sympathetic portrait of the writer emerges. This copiously researched effort shows Huxley undergoing a sea change as editor David Bradshaw traces a shift in Huxley's political beliefs. His concern for England's unemployment problem and the effect it had on the working class becomes apparent, as is the fact that Huxley was at times torn between a progressive stance and acceptance of autocratic rule as an answer to the chaos of pre-World War II Europe. Once Hitler took center stage, Huxley never again contemplated the thought of a dictatorship as the answer to society's woes. Bradshaw's study provides a new perspective on a significant twentieth-century writer and on issues that were of concern to both Britain's and America's literary communities during this period between the wars.

Booklist

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. . . .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 shred analyst of the mass psychology of fascism, the disciple of H.L. Mencken.

Publishers Weekly

A journalistic miscellany...his keen perception comes through with unique immediacy and polymathic wit.

Kirkus Reviews

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.

Library Journal

This book deserves additional recommendation as a fine literary collection of essays and letters which focuses on life between the wars. These reveal the evolution of the author in a period of time when he moved to an appreciation of common people. David Bradshaw does a fine job of editing letters to make for a smooth, uniform set of impressions.

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