Koestler by Michael Scammell

I knew nothing about Arthur Koestler before I read Michael Scammell's biography. I would not have picked it up at all, except that I have read so many of the New York Times Notable Non-Fiction Books from 2010 and loved almost each and every one of them. I am down to the last dozen or so on that list, this having been one of them, so I got it--and was not dissapointed. As of now, I am destined to read them all, I fear.
Koestler was born in the early 20th century to educated Jewish parents in Budapest. He lived between Vienna and Budapest growing up, and he went on to live in a number of different countries and cities throughout his adult life. He was a communist for a period of time, which led him to Russia, and to Spain during the Civil War there--which led to his first incarceration. He was a journalist by trade at that point, and he used his time in prison to write. He lived in Germany and France until it became untenable for a Jew to remain there, and after another brief internment, he went to England and the US to live and write.
Koestler met everyone, and had a relationship of some sort with many of the major players in the first half of the 20th century--politicians, artists, actors, writers--you name it. There is a great photo of him with Langston Hughes in Turkmenistan in the book that gives a great example of the kind of life he led. He was not a man to be in love with, however--he was almost compulsive about sex, and not the least bit concerned about fidelity. He was not an attractive man, so he must have had a personality that carried the day for him--but not the month, or the year in most cases. That said, he led a fascinating life, and this well written biography is well worth the read.