THE MAVERICK

The life story of the complex man at the forefront of British publishing.

With access to archival sources and interviews, Harding, author of Blood on the Page and Hanns and Rudolf, creates an interesting biography of George Weidenfeld (1919-2016), the publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat who had “a bottomless appetite for social engagement.” As co-founder of the esteemed publishing house Weidenfeld & Nicolson, he was an influential cultural figure from 1948, when the firm began, until his death. Born in Austria, the only child of doting parents, he fled to London in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. Soon, he found a position with BBC’s Overseas Intelligence Department, and in 1942, he co-authored The Goebbels Experiment: A Study of the Nazi Propaganda Machine, which convinced him that “he loved the process of publication” more than “the hard work of writing.” With Nigel Nicolson as editor and investor, publishing became Weidenfeld’s life’s work. His aim was “to publish authors whose voices were normally shunned by mainstream publishers: the mavericks, the scandalous, the subversive.” Harding focuses each chapter on a book from their impressive list, including Nabokov’s Lolita, which raised the challenge of censorship; Herzog, by the prickly Saul Bellow; Mary McCarthy’s The Group, which some readers found scandalous; James Watson’s Double Helix; Isaiah Berlin’s The Hedgehog and the Fox, the firm’s first commercial success; and Weidenfeld’s autobiography. His personal life was volatile: His first marriage to the wealthy Jane Sieff, in 1952, ended in 1955 because of his “casual infidelities.” Their daughter was born in 1953. A tempestuous love affair with the wife of Cyril Connolly led to a marriage that lasted only two years. His third wife was an American heiress; they divorced, too. His fourth wife outlived him. Harding recounts Weidenfeld’s lifelong commitment to Israel’s fortunes and his numerous philanthropic endeavors. Knighted in 1969, he became a baronet in 1976, honored, finally—though controversially—by the British establishment.

A sympathetic, discerning portrait of a publishing titan.