John Lewis (5) (1889–1976)

For those that have a familiarity with the Left Book Club books of the late 1930s and early 1940s, this is an interesting bit of background as to the origins of the Club, how it operated, how it grew sharply, and then fell off significantly. The last-named point is the principal weakness of the book, in that it never really comes to grip with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August, 1939, and how that shredded the credibility of a significant portion of the left, an event that not even the entrance of the Soviet Union into the war (about two years later) could repair. It's very much a valentine to the LBC, written by someone who was a part of the organization, so you can't truly expect too much in the way of critical analysis.… (more)