Best of
Autobiography

1937

The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston


Siegfried Sassoon - 1937
    The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston includes "Sherston's Progress" and both "Memoirs,"

Dialogue with Death


Arthur Koestler - 1937
    He was then sentenced to execution and spent every day awaiting death—only to be released three months later under pressure from the British government. Out of this experience, Koestler wrote Darkness at Noon, his most acclaimed work in the United States, about a man arrested and executed in a Communist prison.Dialogue with Death is Koestler’s riveting account of the fall of Málaga to rebel forces, his surreal arrest, and his three months facing death from a prison cell. Despite the harrowing circumstances, Koestler manages to convey the stress of uncertainty, fear, and deprivation of human contact with the keen eye of a reporter.Lucas Wittmann | Newsweek:"Koestler’s harrowing memoir of his three months behind bars with the constant threat of execution inspired his iconic Darkness at Noon. Dialogue with Death is the more lasting book for its lucid, exact, and unrelenting depiction of an imprisoned man on the verge of death."

Spanish Testament


Arthur Koestler - 1937
    Part II of the book was subsequently published on its own, with minor modifications, under the title Dialogue with Death. Koestler made three trips to Spain during the civil war; the third time he was captured, sentenced to death and imprisoned by the rebel forces of General Franco. Koestler was at that time working on behalf of the Comintern and as an agent of the Loyalist Government's official news agency, using for cover accreditation to the British daily News Chronicle.The book was published in London by Victor Gollancz Ltd. The 'Contents' of the book is in two parts: Part I is Comintern propaganda, divided into IX chapters, each with its own title. Part II, titled Dialogue with Death, describes Koestler’s prison experiences under sentence of death. This part was written in the late autumn of 1937 immediately after his release from prison, when the events were still vivid.

Last Flight


Amelia Earhart - 1937
    Compiled here are dispatches, letters, diary entries and charts she sent to her husband at each stage of her trip.