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Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life
The first major biography of legendary war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, whose life provides a unique and thrilling perspective on world history in an extraordinary time
Martha Gellhorn's heroic career as a reporter brought her to the front lines of virtually every significant international conflict between the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Cold War. The preeminent-and often the only-female correspondent on the scene, she broke new ground for women in the male preserve of journalism. Her wartime dispatches, marked by a passionate desire to expose suffering in its many guises and an inimitable immediacy, rank among the best of the twentieth century.
A deep-seated love of travel complemented this interest in world affairs. From her birth in St. Louis in 1908 to her death in London in 1998, Gellhorn passed through Africa, Cuba, China, and most of the great cities of Europe, recording her experiences in first-rate travel writing and fiction. A tall, glamorous blonde, she made friends easily-among the boldface names that populated her life were Eleanor Roosevelt, Leonard Bernstein, and H. G. Wells-but she was as incapable of settling into comfortable long-term relationships as she was of sitting still, and happiness often eluded her despite her professional success. Both of her marriages ended badly-the first, to Ernest Hemingway, publicly so.
Drawn from extensive interviews and with exclusive access to Gellhorn's papers and correspondence, this seminal biography spans half the globe and almost an entire century to offer an exhilarating, intimate portrait of one of the defining women of our times.
Martha Gellhorn's heroic career as a reporter brought her to the front lines of virtually every significant international conflict between the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Cold War. The preeminent-and often the only-female correspondent on the scene, she broke new ground for women in the male preserve of journalism. Her wartime dispatches, marked by a passionate desire to expose suffering in its many guises and an inimitable immediacy, rank among the best of the twentieth century.
A deep-seated love of travel complemented this interest in world affairs. From her birth in St. Louis in 1908 to her death in London in 1998, Gellhorn passed through Africa, Cuba, China, and most of the great cities of Europe, recording her experiences in first-rate travel writing and fiction. A tall, glamorous blonde, she made friends easily-among the boldface names that populated her life were Eleanor Roosevelt, Leonard Bernstein, and H. G. Wells-but she was as incapable of settling into comfortable long-term relationships as she was of sitting still, and happiness often eluded her despite her professional success. Both of her marriages ended badly-the first, to Ernest Hemingway, publicly so.
Drawn from extensive interviews and with exclusive access to Gellhorn's papers and correspondence, this seminal biography spans half the globe and almost an entire century to offer an exhilarating, intimate portrait of one of the defining women of our times.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published September 25, 2003
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1651 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Moorehead
48 books260 followersCaroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France; A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France; and Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer, Moorehead has also written for the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
November 7, 2017
From ten kilometres away on a foggy day, one could have easily seen that Martha Gellhorn , one of the great journalists of her age, was also an appalling tramp. In her magnificently researched biography Caroline Moorehead spares the reader none of the sordid details. Having a taste for married lovers, Gellhorn destroyed at least two marriages. She had, at a minimum, four abortions. She was unpleasant with her step children and if we can accept the insinuations of her biographer, her sadistic parenting style was probably the root cause of the three terms in jail of her adopted son. She felt remorse for nothing.
The big question is whether or not one should read celebrity biographies which tend simply to drag our heroes down to our own level. The reality is that we all owe Martha Gellhorn a debt. She was one of the leaders among a great generation of journalists who waged a tremendous battle during the 1930s to make North Americans aware of the dangers of fascism and to convince them that America once again would need to send its children to die on the battlefields of Europe in order to protect civilized society. Gellhorn eagerly sought out danger and endured great physical hardship in order to convey her message. Her voice was always strident for in her view "objectivity was shit."
Gellhorn, however, as Moorehead makes very clear, was not just another left-wing journalist. Her articles were being read in the White House. Before going to Spain, Gellhorn had worked for the Roosevelt administration. She established her credibility with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) by supporting his job creation programs and his efforts to halt the lynching of Afro-Americans in the US South. She became a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. Gellhorn through her public writings and private correspondence with Eleanor unquestionably strengthened FDR's resolve to bring the USA into the war against Fascism in Europe. No other journalist would have had more influence in the Oval Office than Gellhorn during the Roosevelt Administration.
For all her faults, Gellhorn can be ultimately be regarded simply as an individual who took life by the horns and enjoyed it to the fullest. She will be remembered as an early and very eloquent opponent of fascism. Any reader should be delighted by this remarkable portrait of an extraordinary wartime correspondent working in an era of extreme crisis. The one exception would be her first husband Ernest Hemingway who if he were alive today who would be outraged by the Gellhorn's withering criticisms of his performance in bed.
The big question is whether or not one should read celebrity biographies which tend simply to drag our heroes down to our own level. The reality is that we all owe Martha Gellhorn a debt. She was one of the leaders among a great generation of journalists who waged a tremendous battle during the 1930s to make North Americans aware of the dangers of fascism and to convince them that America once again would need to send its children to die on the battlefields of Europe in order to protect civilized society. Gellhorn eagerly sought out danger and endured great physical hardship in order to convey her message. Her voice was always strident for in her view "objectivity was shit."
Gellhorn, however, as Moorehead makes very clear, was not just another left-wing journalist. Her articles were being read in the White House. Before going to Spain, Gellhorn had worked for the Roosevelt administration. She established her credibility with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) by supporting his job creation programs and his efforts to halt the lynching of Afro-Americans in the US South. She became a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. Gellhorn through her public writings and private correspondence with Eleanor unquestionably strengthened FDR's resolve to bring the USA into the war against Fascism in Europe. No other journalist would have had more influence in the Oval Office than Gellhorn during the Roosevelt Administration.
For all her faults, Gellhorn can be ultimately be regarded simply as an individual who took life by the horns and enjoyed it to the fullest. She will be remembered as an early and very eloquent opponent of fascism. Any reader should be delighted by this remarkable portrait of an extraordinary wartime correspondent working in an era of extreme crisis. The one exception would be her first husband Ernest Hemingway who if he were alive today who would be outraged by the Gellhorn's withering criticisms of his performance in bed.
March 10, 2018
This is a very moving and passionate biography of an independent 20th century woman. Martha Gellhorn was a writer of both fiction and non-fiction – and much more successful as a journalist. She wrote constantly and intimately to family, friends, and lovers. She was a compulsive traveler and lived in many different parts of the world – France, England, Kenya, Cuba, and Mexico. Even though she grew up in St. Louis, U.S. she rejected her home country and only returned for visits with her family, especially her mother.
Martha Gellhorn was drawn to war and conflict starting with the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s – and ending with Vietnam. Her war reporting was searing and focused on ordinary lives that were physically and morally torn apart. A transformative experience for Martha was when she accompanied U.S. troops in Dachau in 1945. Her outlook on the goodness of humanity became shattered. After the Holocaust she forever looked upon government and authorities with suspicion, seeing them as being complicit in evil.
Martha Gellhorn knew scores of people – Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, H.G. Wells, Leonard Bernstein, Diana Cooper, Robert Capa... And of course she was married to Ernest Hemingway, this led to a very heated break-up and divorce.
This book provides us with an exciting journey of the era, of a woman who was a world traveller. It is very well written giving us a full portrait of Martha Gellhorn – and some of it is very unpleasant. She had friendships that she could end abruptly with her caustic comments. She was never afraid of expressing her opinion on a friends’ personal behavior. I found the way she treated her adopted son to be abominable. He was all joys and rhapsody to Martha until he reached the age of five – then after she constantly nagged and berated him for being overweight and not meeting her standards of intellect. She would also leave him for long periods of time in the care of nannies, knowing full well that he craved her attention and companionship.
Martha Gellhorn was a solitary person who would tolerate others only for a short period of time. This is a penetrating story of a driven woman and her quest for both love and intellectual fulfillment.
Martha Gellhorn was drawn to war and conflict starting with the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s – and ending with Vietnam. Her war reporting was searing and focused on ordinary lives that were physically and morally torn apart. A transformative experience for Martha was when she accompanied U.S. troops in Dachau in 1945. Her outlook on the goodness of humanity became shattered. After the Holocaust she forever looked upon government and authorities with suspicion, seeing them as being complicit in evil.
Martha Gellhorn knew scores of people – Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, H.G. Wells, Leonard Bernstein, Diana Cooper, Robert Capa... And of course she was married to Ernest Hemingway, this led to a very heated break-up and divorce.
This book provides us with an exciting journey of the era, of a woman who was a world traveller. It is very well written giving us a full portrait of Martha Gellhorn – and some of it is very unpleasant. She had friendships that she could end abruptly with her caustic comments. She was never afraid of expressing her opinion on a friends’ personal behavior. I found the way she treated her adopted son to be abominable. He was all joys and rhapsody to Martha until he reached the age of five – then after she constantly nagged and berated him for being overweight and not meeting her standards of intellect. She would also leave him for long periods of time in the care of nannies, knowing full well that he craved her attention and companionship.
Martha Gellhorn was a solitary person who would tolerate others only for a short period of time. This is a penetrating story of a driven woman and her quest for both love and intellectual fulfillment.
December 12, 2019
Martha Gellhorn. What a broad! I love learning about women of yesteryear who refused to inhabit the prescribed female roles. I admire Martha's grit and tenacity as a journalist, and I envy her life of world travel.
I do wish she hadn't been so foolish as to marry, of all the jealous rotten rogues, Ernest Hemingway. But I suppose she can be forgiven, considering that she fell in love with him in a war zone while she was covering the Spanish Civil War. It would have been tempting to cling to a strong, manly fellow American for comfort under those circumstances. And Hem was said to be extremely charming and persuasive while in pursuit of a woman. Fortunately for Martha, it was just temporary insanity. The marriage only lasted about four years.
I do wish she hadn't been so foolish as to marry, of all the jealous rotten rogues, Ernest Hemingway. But I suppose she can be forgiven, considering that she fell in love with him in a war zone while she was covering the Spanish Civil War. It would have been tempting to cling to a strong, manly fellow American for comfort under those circumstances. And Hem was said to be extremely charming and persuasive while in pursuit of a woman. Fortunately for Martha, it was just temporary insanity. The marriage only lasted about four years.
September 30, 2014
Martha Gellhorn, one of the best war correspondents this country has ever seen. She witnessed almost every major international conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Vietnam. How is it that I am only just learning about her now? This biography is, in my opinion, ruthlessly fair. She is not pictured as a saint, far from it. Like many driven and talented people who focus intently on one thing, she sometimes exhibits a callous disregard for the feelings of others, even those closest to her. She has unfortunately been too often defined by her relationship with Ernest Hemingway, much to her disgust, and this writer puts their relationship back in its proper context.
March 2, 2019
Loved loved loved it.
November 17, 2012
Excellent biography of an extraordinary woman.
September 13, 2012
Who knew this amazing woman existed!!! Leading the life of a war correspondent from the 1920s all the way up to the 1990s inspiring generations of women to take their talent and view point into war zones of today and the past 30 years. A real eye opener for me and I wish it hadn't taken an HBO movie which just focused on 5 years of her amazing life for me to discover her. Moorehead had incomparable access to all of Gellhorn's papers and the collection of her letters written over six decades to friends detailing her experiences and thoughts.
It is indeed a Twentieth Century Life, with Gellhorn born in 1908 living fearlessly in a man's world in which her beauty opened doors that allowed her vast intellect and ferociousness to know and tell the stories of humanity in conditions unfathomable in her/our time. In a recent Vanity Fair article, I read that American War Reporter Marie Colvin, killed in Syria this past February, carried Gellhorn's writings with her. Colvin often focused on the plight of women and children in wartime, as did Gellhorn, she also lived this same hard scrabble loner life though 50 years separated them in age.
Reading Gellhorn's own books, especially the only semi biographical book "Travels with myself and Another," (the book the HBO movie was based upon the Another being Hemingway whom she marriend in 1941 for five years, a mere blip in her existence) brings her to life in her own words. I truly loved that book whose whole premise is to write about trips over four decades that were out and out disasters -- for who wants to hear about the good things that happen on someone's trip . . . we all love hearing what went wrong on a trip rather then what went well and Gellhorn writes with full candor and great humor often at her own expense.
Moorehead's biography fills in the woman behind the words of her reporting for Colliers magazine and her books in a brilliant portrait that is this woman's life ... one in which being on her own, needing complete control and the need to be alone in breath taking parts of the world for long periods before entering into the next war. A life fascinating, heartbreaking at times and one I don't think many would want to have lived themselves, though Colvin certainly did, recounted by Moorehead who had the vantage point of growing up knowing Gellhorn as her own mother's best friend.
It is indeed a Twentieth Century Life, with Gellhorn born in 1908 living fearlessly in a man's world in which her beauty opened doors that allowed her vast intellect and ferociousness to know and tell the stories of humanity in conditions unfathomable in her/our time. In a recent Vanity Fair article, I read that American War Reporter Marie Colvin, killed in Syria this past February, carried Gellhorn's writings with her. Colvin often focused on the plight of women and children in wartime, as did Gellhorn, she also lived this same hard scrabble loner life though 50 years separated them in age.
Reading Gellhorn's own books, especially the only semi biographical book "Travels with myself and Another," (the book the HBO movie was based upon the Another being Hemingway whom she marriend in 1941 for five years, a mere blip in her existence) brings her to life in her own words. I truly loved that book whose whole premise is to write about trips over four decades that were out and out disasters -- for who wants to hear about the good things that happen on someone's trip . . . we all love hearing what went wrong on a trip rather then what went well and Gellhorn writes with full candor and great humor often at her own expense.
Moorehead's biography fills in the woman behind the words of her reporting for Colliers magazine and her books in a brilliant portrait that is this woman's life ... one in which being on her own, needing complete control and the need to be alone in breath taking parts of the world for long periods before entering into the next war. A life fascinating, heartbreaking at times and one I don't think many would want to have lived themselves, though Colvin certainly did, recounted by Moorehead who had the vantage point of growing up knowing Gellhorn as her own mother's best friend.
April 21, 2022
How do I put into words what I felt after reading this book. I do not usually read biographies, preferring literary fiction but I was riveted throughout my reading of the biography of Martha Gellhorn. Rich with historical detail and anecdotal data about this remarkable woman’s life, I felt compelled to read every single word and still would like to know more. I have already ordered two books that she wrote. She was a tremendous force In the literary world and was larger than life . I highly recommend this book.
March 6, 2022
This is a massive biography i knew a little about Martha Gellhorn ,this tells you absolutely everything,since birth. Her life was chaotic and she traveled endlessly looking for stories or pursuing men across the continents. Her family life was confusing devoted to her mother ,boyish upbringing with brothers and very spoiled. I wish i felt more sympathetic towards her but i found her very unpleasant ,quite rude ,and sharp with everyone even her son. I wonder if her friends from long ago in her posh crowd remember her fondly? well written but sooooo long.
February 20, 2015
As a journalist who grew up in the internet age, I find it extraordinary to read about the lives of genuine correspondents - sent to be real witnesses, to document history, and to send back their despatches to people far away who would otherwise be in the dark.
I have such admiration for Martha's interest in people rather than politics and military movements, and (even though I work for the BBC, the home of balanced and objective reporting) her upfront dismissal of "all that objectivity shit". There are some instances - the Spanish Civil War, she felt - where there is a clear right and a clear wrong and that a conscientious journalist can and should take sides.
Martha isn't always likeable - I think I'd have been afraid to meet her, in case she dismissed me as boring like she did with so many others - but she is brave to the point of reckless, and persistent, and strong. She was also an obsessive letter writer - where did she find the time? - and Moorehead mines her letters, diaries and notes to create a vivid picture of a unique character - who I could almost idolise, despite her flaws.
This book suffers the same failing as so many biographies, though: the author is so fascinated by her subject, has learnt so much about her and has so much rich material, that she can't bare to leave anything out. The biography is over 500 pages long and would have been better shorter BUT Martha Gellhorn led such a fascinating life that I can't criticise Moorehead too harshly for that!
I have such admiration for Martha's interest in people rather than politics and military movements, and (even though I work for the BBC, the home of balanced and objective reporting) her upfront dismissal of "all that objectivity shit". There are some instances - the Spanish Civil War, she felt - where there is a clear right and a clear wrong and that a conscientious journalist can and should take sides.
Martha isn't always likeable - I think I'd have been afraid to meet her, in case she dismissed me as boring like she did with so many others - but she is brave to the point of reckless, and persistent, and strong. She was also an obsessive letter writer - where did she find the time? - and Moorehead mines her letters, diaries and notes to create a vivid picture of a unique character - who I could almost idolise, despite her flaws.
This book suffers the same failing as so many biographies, though: the author is so fascinated by her subject, has learnt so much about her and has so much rich material, that she can't bare to leave anything out. The biography is over 500 pages long and would have been better shorter BUT Martha Gellhorn led such a fascinating life that I can't criticise Moorehead too harshly for that!
July 30, 2017
While reading this bio, I would, one minute, admire and respect Martha Gellhorn and a few pages later, become frustrated and disappointed in her. This probably means only that Caroline Moorehead did an excellent job of telling Gellhorn’s story...the good and the bad, a complex human story. Gellhorn, from St. Louis originally, became a reporter of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, WWII in the 40s, and even Vietnam in the 60s & 70s, fighting preconceptions, prejudices, bureaucracy and bombs. She was an amazingly courageous person in her career and her travels; she was also amazingly self-centered (perhaps required to be to succeed as she did). One of the simple things I love about reading is how in either fiction or non-fiction, the writers/protagonists provide language to thoughts and emotions I have had in the past. The author’s parents, I discovered, were good friends of Gellhorn, and reporters themselves.
December 16, 2012
A fascinating woman. She had the balls to sneak on a hospital ship and land on Omaha Beach on D-Day. She snared Hemingway away from his wife and lived to regret it. Adopted a child after she got rid of the UC and Seemed to struggle with all relationships that tied her down. She had a love him/leave him relationship with all others husband or child. Great story about a woman who would not bond to anyone.
June 7, 2017
Enjoyable read about the life and non-life of a very alive lady, Ernest Hemingway's third wife. How she survived it all is a mystery. It will take you through much of the 20th century's more interesting events, and leave you a bit breathless from time to time. There is also a most satisfactory amount of name-dropping which is presumably due to the author rather than the subject, although I do not wish to be mean. Some will find this of lively interest...
April 11, 2022
One of the best bios I've ever read.
October 17, 2022
3.5/5
Tell the truth, but tell it slant. In my case, find the truth, but seen askance, as I made a habit of, whenever I embarked on a traversal of history, to not touch the overtly protruding line of Male and instead down less written and even more seldomly watered and weeded records of mothers, daughters, lovers, and wives. At least, that's my hypothesis for what led me to this particular biography, as it certainly wasn't any knowledge of Moorehead or more than the faintest idea of what it meant to report on the Spanish Civil War as a woman. My prioritizing 21st century reads at the closing of this year and a yearning for a sizable nonfiction got me to finally take this on, and what I found was a chronicle that was admirably contextual when it wasn't simperingly fawning, incisively entertaining when it wasn't clownishly unfeeling, and all in all worth reading even when its nauseating nationalism and naïve moralizing became inexcusably trite. So, far from the best biography I've ever read, but my vision of large chunks of the 20th century and a sizable selection of its most earthshaking events has been indescribably enhanced, and having the pompously singular Gellhorn at the helm certainly made the ride all the more incomparably satisfying.
Ahh, Gellhorn. I can't say she's boring, or that she deserved the many instances of misogyny, violent or indirect, that thwarted her intimacy, truncated her career, and trapped you her the other side of too easily burnt bridges and too fragile an end of life. Indeed, if you had to pick a woman to ride out the 20th century with, there are few who traversed as many countries and their battlefields as she did, and when she wasn't been insipidly acrimonious, she could be a compassionate stalwart and a witty grand old time indeed. Had this biographer been a tad more scrupulous about objectivity, or at least restricted her value judgements to the realm of unsupported theories and tenuous connections, I may have even awarded that fifth star. As it stands, Moorehead's mountains of detail couldn't distract from her ever-present judgmental attitude, especially when it came to Gellhorn's choice in who to side with in such contests as Spanish Republicans vs Spanish Nationalists, Czechoslovakia vs Germany, Vietnman vs the, and Palestine vs Israel. It certainly made the trajectory through this not-skimpy biography all the easier with a rah-rah cheerleader straining at the boundaries of a professional tone, but whenever a judgment call riddled with ignorance reared its head, it became very hard to take the writing seriously, especially when Moorehead was in the midst of castigating Gellhorn for her own bias. The observer observing the observer observing the observer, as it were, and while I don't regret my four star rating, I was glad when the text followed its subject and voluntarily exited stage left.
However much I've grumbled throughout this entire review, I do love reading the work of the present margins bringing the past margins to light and setting both them and themselves in their rightful place in the historical record. Thus, I'll probably always be looking forward to works such as Cleopatra, Indira, Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation, Sophia Tolstoy and other instances of women writing women, for what is penned in the likes of Wikipedia is patriarchally fucked and what is in academia is only slightly better in some cases and much worse than others, and until that changes, I seek out the voices with a personal incentive to reach out to their ancestors and bring them to life. Gellhorn would make mincemeat out of the type of puling fearmonger who measures 'woman' by how much they serve as doormat, but the fact that Moorehead went nearly 500 pages without mentioning a Black person beyond Mandela and a number of unnamed citizens of Africa and its diaspora is rather pathetic (especially when she attempted to argue in favor of reverse racism of all things). Still, if you're only here for Hemmingway or any number of suppurated masculinities, fuck off. Here lies a lady who went by the name of Martha Gellhorn, and damn was she good at what she did best.
Tell the truth, but tell it slant. In my case, find the truth, but seen askance, as I made a habit of, whenever I embarked on a traversal of history, to not touch the overtly protruding line of Male and instead down less written and even more seldomly watered and weeded records of mothers, daughters, lovers, and wives. At least, that's my hypothesis for what led me to this particular biography, as it certainly wasn't any knowledge of Moorehead or more than the faintest idea of what it meant to report on the Spanish Civil War as a woman. My prioritizing 21st century reads at the closing of this year and a yearning for a sizable nonfiction got me to finally take this on, and what I found was a chronicle that was admirably contextual when it wasn't simperingly fawning, incisively entertaining when it wasn't clownishly unfeeling, and all in all worth reading even when its nauseating nationalism and naïve moralizing became inexcusably trite. So, far from the best biography I've ever read, but my vision of large chunks of the 20th century and a sizable selection of its most earthshaking events has been indescribably enhanced, and having the pompously singular Gellhorn at the helm certainly made the ride all the more incomparably satisfying.
Ahh, Gellhorn. I can't say she's boring, or that she deserved the many instances of misogyny, violent or indirect, that thwarted her intimacy, truncated her career, and trapped you her the other side of too easily burnt bridges and too fragile an end of life. Indeed, if you had to pick a woman to ride out the 20th century with, there are few who traversed as many countries and their battlefields as she did, and when she wasn't been insipidly acrimonious, she could be a compassionate stalwart and a witty grand old time indeed. Had this biographer been a tad more scrupulous about objectivity, or at least restricted her value judgements to the realm of unsupported theories and tenuous connections, I may have even awarded that fifth star. As it stands, Moorehead's mountains of detail couldn't distract from her ever-present judgmental attitude, especially when it came to Gellhorn's choice in who to side with in such contests as Spanish Republicans vs Spanish Nationalists, Czechoslovakia vs Germany, Vietnman vs the, and Palestine vs Israel. It certainly made the trajectory through this not-skimpy biography all the easier with a rah-rah cheerleader straining at the boundaries of a professional tone, but whenever a judgment call riddled with ignorance reared its head, it became very hard to take the writing seriously, especially when Moorehead was in the midst of castigating Gellhorn for her own bias. The observer observing the observer observing the observer, as it were, and while I don't regret my four star rating, I was glad when the text followed its subject and voluntarily exited stage left.
However much I've grumbled throughout this entire review, I do love reading the work of the present margins bringing the past margins to light and setting both them and themselves in their rightful place in the historical record. Thus, I'll probably always be looking forward to works such as Cleopatra, Indira, Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation, Sophia Tolstoy and other instances of women writing women, for what is penned in the likes of Wikipedia is patriarchally fucked and what is in academia is only slightly better in some cases and much worse than others, and until that changes, I seek out the voices with a personal incentive to reach out to their ancestors and bring them to life. Gellhorn would make mincemeat out of the type of puling fearmonger who measures 'woman' by how much they serve as doormat, but the fact that Moorehead went nearly 500 pages without mentioning a Black person beyond Mandela and a number of unnamed citizens of Africa and its diaspora is rather pathetic (especially when she attempted to argue in favor of reverse racism of all things). Still, if you're only here for Hemmingway or any number of suppurated masculinities, fuck off. Here lies a lady who went by the name of Martha Gellhorn, and damn was she good at what she did best.
November 16, 2021
Martha Gellhorn did not like that her accomplishments were overshadowed by having been Ernest Hemingway's third wife. She would most like to be known for her now-forgotten novels. What she deserves to be remembered for is her ground-breaking war reporting that paved the way for women to report from conflict zones.
This biography is a thorough look at Gellhorn's life, with care taken to center her life and activities within the history and politics of the time. And with Gellhorn being a regular visitor to the Roosevelt White House, breaking into journalism with reports on the living conditions of mill workers in North Carolina and Massachusetts during the Depression, being on the ground in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and reporting during the Second World War, including being among the first reporters on the beaches on D-Day, this makes for interesting reading. She traveled all over Europe during the last days of the war, including riding through Italy with the soldiers fighting and a post-liberation visit to the Dachau concentration camp. Later, she'd visit both Israel and try to get a pass to report on the Vietnam War.
The book bogs down in the final third, when Gellhorn's life becomes less about her career and more about her disappointments with aging and relationships. She was not a good mother and when the book turned to detailing things like how many times she humiliated her son or the time her cats peed on the sofa, I found my love for this detailed book waning. I'd recommend it for the first two-thirds and suggest skipping the rest. She was an important historical figure, but certainly not an unproblematic one.
This biography is a thorough look at Gellhorn's life, with care taken to center her life and activities within the history and politics of the time. And with Gellhorn being a regular visitor to the Roosevelt White House, breaking into journalism with reports on the living conditions of mill workers in North Carolina and Massachusetts during the Depression, being on the ground in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and reporting during the Second World War, including being among the first reporters on the beaches on D-Day, this makes for interesting reading. She traveled all over Europe during the last days of the war, including riding through Italy with the soldiers fighting and a post-liberation visit to the Dachau concentration camp. Later, she'd visit both Israel and try to get a pass to report on the Vietnam War.
The book bogs down in the final third, when Gellhorn's life becomes less about her career and more about her disappointments with aging and relationships. She was not a good mother and when the book turned to detailing things like how many times she humiliated her son or the time her cats peed on the sofa, I found my love for this detailed book waning. I'd recommend it for the first two-thirds and suggest skipping the rest. She was an important historical figure, but certainly not an unproblematic one.
April 9, 2020
I've always been fascinated by Hemingway's writing and life and after reading Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, I became even more fascinated with Gellhorn.
This is a massive work that documents Gellhorn's life from her youth in St. Louis to her extensive travel. One thing that struck me was how many homes Gellhorn tried to establish. Cuba (again with Hemingway) might have been her favorite abode, but she worked so hard to establish a place that felt like home. One time she even went as far as attempting to build one up an African mountain.
My level of sympathy (and empathy) for her wafted around as to what was going on in Gellhorn's life. As the intrepid war correspondent, I admired her fortitude. Later in her life, I was a bit (or highly) annoyed, especially regarding the relationship with her adopted son.
I do admire her in that she was not afraid to full-tilt live life, traveling wherever and whenever she wanted. She preferred the solo treks, especially later in her life.
This is a massive read but I was determined finish it. There's no spoiler here (especially if you know the circumstances of Gellhorn's death) but I thought Moorehead abruptly ended the book there. There was no wrap-up of Gellhorn's impact on history or literature or even how her death impacted "The Chaps."
She did have a fascinating (and sometimes entitled) life and it's amazing the historical figures that she encountered.
This is a massive work that documents Gellhorn's life from her youth in St. Louis to her extensive travel. One thing that struck me was how many homes Gellhorn tried to establish. Cuba (again with Hemingway) might have been her favorite abode, but she worked so hard to establish a place that felt like home. One time she even went as far as attempting to build one up an African mountain.
My level of sympathy (and empathy) for her wafted around as to what was going on in Gellhorn's life. As the intrepid war correspondent, I admired her fortitude. Later in her life, I was a bit (or highly) annoyed, especially regarding the relationship with her adopted son.
I do admire her in that she was not afraid to full-tilt live life, traveling wherever and whenever she wanted. She preferred the solo treks, especially later in her life.
This is a massive read but I was determined finish it. There's no spoiler here (especially if you know the circumstances of Gellhorn's death) but I thought Moorehead abruptly ended the book there. There was no wrap-up of Gellhorn's impact on history or literature or even how her death impacted "The Chaps."
She did have a fascinating (and sometimes entitled) life and it's amazing the historical figures that she encountered.
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April 13, 2020Looking for a travel adventure whose main character is a strong, independent successful woman who lived from 1908-1998? Enjoy reading about history and women who not only observed history, but who also made history? This is the book for you. It's a biography of Martha Gellhorn who traveled the world - lived in many places around the globe - and was witness and chronicler of how almost every war of her times effected people.
April 13, 2020
Early on, Moorehead talks about June 1932, when Martha rejoins her lover Bertrand de Jouvenel, sailing into le Havre and then taking off together for a walking tour through Germany. She writes, "They drove across France and into Germany. Berchtesgaden reminded Bertrand of Disneyland..."
This is a poorly written book about an unpleasant and very selfish woman. I didn't like the writing and I didn't like Gellhorn, but I did like reading about her most extraordinary life.
This is a poorly written book about an unpleasant and very selfish woman. I didn't like the writing and I didn't like Gellhorn, but I did like reading about her most extraordinary life.
August 31, 2025
Fantastic biography! The author avoids the cardinal sin of so many - speculation. Primary sources abound and nearly every assertion that isn't fact based is supported with a quote or some other link to primary sources.
"Gellhorn" is an evocative, thorough, and clear examination of a life - if not happy - then lived with intention and vitality.
"Gellhorn" is an evocative, thorough, and clear examination of a life - if not happy - then lived with intention and vitality.
August 7, 2017
Martha Gellhorn was a very unusual woman. A war correspondent and writer, who started her career during the Spanish Civil War. I admired her tenacity for getting the story and also for her telling the story of the underdog and trying to obtain justice for the oppressed.
That said, I found Martha a rather unlikeable person. She was very vain (she had facelifts in her 80's!) and used her looks to get access to war zones and people and places to report her stories. She had no compunction about having affairs with married men and breaking up families. She broke up two marriages, (and probably more) one with Hemingway who was married and had 3 children. It appears she also married a man she didn't love because he was rich.
I also found it curious that she adopted a little boy, but then when he was school age, she shipped him off to boarding school.
She moved to Kenya, built a house, and lived there for years but it seems that she didn't have any Black friends. All her friends seemed to be white, upper-middle class or rich people. I was wondering while she lived in Africa why she didn't report on apartheid in South Africa? The country was accessible to her and it certainly was a great story. Right up her ally with oppressed people being treated unjustly.
Another blind spot she had was about the Palestenians. She disliked Arabs and thought they had no right to fight against the Isralies for their rights. Anything that Israel did she approved of.
I do admire her can do attitude and totally understand her need to be alone. She was an interesting person. I did find some of the statements by the author contradictory at times and it would have been better for the book to have interviewed more people who knew Martha rather than take so much from Martha's letters.
That said, I found Martha a rather unlikeable person. She was very vain (she had facelifts in her 80's!) and used her looks to get access to war zones and people and places to report her stories. She had no compunction about having affairs with married men and breaking up families. She broke up two marriages, (and probably more) one with Hemingway who was married and had 3 children. It appears she also married a man she didn't love because he was rich.
I also found it curious that she adopted a little boy, but then when he was school age, she shipped him off to boarding school.
She moved to Kenya, built a house, and lived there for years but it seems that she didn't have any Black friends. All her friends seemed to be white, upper-middle class or rich people. I was wondering while she lived in Africa why she didn't report on apartheid in South Africa? The country was accessible to her and it certainly was a great story. Right up her ally with oppressed people being treated unjustly.
Another blind spot she had was about the Palestenians. She disliked Arabs and thought they had no right to fight against the Isralies for their rights. Anything that Israel did she approved of.
I do admire her can do attitude and totally understand her need to be alone. She was an interesting person. I did find some of the statements by the author contradictory at times and it would have been better for the book to have interviewed more people who knew Martha rather than take so much from Martha's letters.
August 19, 2017
Martha Gellhorn is my heroine. As a journalist, she covered everything from the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s right up to the American invasion of Panama in the eighties. She cut through the crap and got to the core of the issue and was unflinching in what she said. She thought that the American invasion of Vietnam was wrong and said so. America banned her from entering Vietnam as a result. She also took part in the D-Day invasion.
She refused to believe in "that objectivity crap" and wrote what she saw. She was that curious product that only America produces: the unaligned radical liberal. She thought that nations should be judged on the same ethical grounds as people, and this is how she approached her journalism.
This is what she said about Adolf Eichmann: "Adolf Eichmann is the most dire warning to us all. He is a warning to guard our souls; to refuse utterly and forever to allegiance without question, to obey orders silently, to scream slogans. He is a warning that the private conscience is the last and only protection of the civilized world."
Caroline Moorehead has written a beautiful biography about her. She describes Gellhorn’s early life in New Orleans, her career as a journalist and a writer of fiction, all three of her failed marriages, her adoption of a war orphan in post war Italy, and her physical decline in later life. At the age of 90, going blind and partially death, she committed suicide. She was a fascinating character: fearless and compassionate, funny and kind, she could also be cruel to those close to her, judgmental and harsh in her criticism. In other words, like most of us, she had her faults. Her virtues, however, shone. They are all here.
She refused to believe in "that objectivity crap" and wrote what she saw. She was that curious product that only America produces: the unaligned radical liberal. She thought that nations should be judged on the same ethical grounds as people, and this is how she approached her journalism.
This is what she said about Adolf Eichmann: "Adolf Eichmann is the most dire warning to us all. He is a warning to guard our souls; to refuse utterly and forever to allegiance without question, to obey orders silently, to scream slogans. He is a warning that the private conscience is the last and only protection of the civilized world."
Caroline Moorehead has written a beautiful biography about her. She describes Gellhorn’s early life in New Orleans, her career as a journalist and a writer of fiction, all three of her failed marriages, her adoption of a war orphan in post war Italy, and her physical decline in later life. At the age of 90, going blind and partially death, she committed suicide. She was a fascinating character: fearless and compassionate, funny and kind, she could also be cruel to those close to her, judgmental and harsh in her criticism. In other words, like most of us, she had her faults. Her virtues, however, shone. They are all here.
August 31, 2016
Gellhorn certainly had a remarkable life, having reported from various hotspots in 20th century global history including the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and even the Vietnam War, and this biography covers it all. Though in places there is simply too much detail from the less interesting aspects of her - notably quotes from letters that highlight a high level of vanity and self-obsession. Her obsessions with righting wrongs in the world is far richer subject than her self-regard.
Moorhead - whose mother was a friend of Gellhorn, and herself knew the great journalist, author and ex of Hemmingway (a taboo subject for Gellhorn, after the conclusion of their half-decade marriage) - could arguably have done with a much tighter edit.
Another problem with this kind of biography, and notably in this case, is that in some ways it reads like a catalogue of dropped names. As well as the connection to Hemmingway, Gellhorn was a great friend of legendary photographer Robert Capa, was staying in the White House from her 20s, and was a frequent correspondent with Eleanor Roosevelt, etc etc. Some packed wiuth Gellhorn's high-ranking connections is the book that it threatens to eclipse her own achievements, notably as a war correspondent (time hasn't been so kind to her novels).
Whatever the book's failings, and however much its portrait of Gellhorn might ultimately be somewhat unflattering, it's a worthy effort to celebrate a this passionately humanitarian writer.
Moorhead - whose mother was a friend of Gellhorn, and herself knew the great journalist, author and ex of Hemmingway (a taboo subject for Gellhorn, after the conclusion of their half-decade marriage) - could arguably have done with a much tighter edit.
Another problem with this kind of biography, and notably in this case, is that in some ways it reads like a catalogue of dropped names. As well as the connection to Hemmingway, Gellhorn was a great friend of legendary photographer Robert Capa, was staying in the White House from her 20s, and was a frequent correspondent with Eleanor Roosevelt, etc etc. Some packed wiuth Gellhorn's high-ranking connections is the book that it threatens to eclipse her own achievements, notably as a war correspondent (time hasn't been so kind to her novels).
Whatever the book's failings, and however much its portrait of Gellhorn might ultimately be somewhat unflattering, it's a worthy effort to celebrate a this passionately humanitarian writer.
September 5, 2012
Martha Gellhorn, journalist, writer and world traveler, is one of the most interesting women of the 20th Century. She was a good friend of Eleanor Roosevelt (and stayed in the White House) and rubbed elbows with the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Adalai Stevenson, and H.G. Wells among others as well as being Ernest Hemingway's third wife. She lived the life of a liberated woman long before the women's liberation movement.
Moorehead's biography draws heavily on written records and Martha's massive number of letters which she seems to have written by the thousands. While she presents a good chronology of Gellhorn's life, at times it gets mired in Martha's self doubt and depression without quite getting a feel for the flavor of her life or the times. With so much to draw from, she often includes information simply because it exists although it provides no real insight into Martha or the progession of her story. Despite being dry and dragging at times, Moorehead's account still provides a great deal of information regarding a remarkable life which ended in suicide in her 90's.
Moorehead's biography draws heavily on written records and Martha's massive number of letters which she seems to have written by the thousands. While she presents a good chronology of Gellhorn's life, at times it gets mired in Martha's self doubt and depression without quite getting a feel for the flavor of her life or the times. With so much to draw from, she often includes information simply because it exists although it provides no real insight into Martha or the progession of her story. Despite being dry and dragging at times, Moorehead's account still provides a great deal of information regarding a remarkable life which ended in suicide in her 90's.
October 5, 2013
Wonderfully written, I found this to be informative along with personal. This author tells a consistent story of Martha Gellhorn's life. I had watched a new movie about Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, and I was so intrigued about this woman that I started looking for her in books. What I found is amazing. This woman's life and work should be taught in schools.
From a young age Martha Gellhorn was strong and independent. She relied on her self for getting where she wanted to go. One of the bravest women I have ever heard about. One of the biggest war corespondents to ever be. Always on the front of war and the face of war. She was a "honest" reporter. She wrote what she saw and said what she felt. She is what is missing in today's news reporters. She should have been honored while she was alive, and should be honored now that she is gone.
Caroline Moorehead has taken the letters that Ms. Gellhorn wrote and received, and taken the knowledge from family and friends, and the accounts of her past, and made a very readable account of Ms. Gellhorn's life.
From a young age Martha Gellhorn was strong and independent. She relied on her self for getting where she wanted to go. One of the bravest women I have ever heard about. One of the biggest war corespondents to ever be. Always on the front of war and the face of war. She was a "honest" reporter. She wrote what she saw and said what she felt. She is what is missing in today's news reporters. She should have been honored while she was alive, and should be honored now that she is gone.
Caroline Moorehead has taken the letters that Ms. Gellhorn wrote and received, and taken the knowledge from family and friends, and the accounts of her past, and made a very readable account of Ms. Gellhorn's life.
April 16, 2013
This densely packed biography reads like a history of the twentieth century. Gellhorn was an interesting and complex woman; a writer compelled to report on the world as she sees it, however unpopular that was. While generally interesting, I did find it occasionally repetitive and tiresome, and it took me quite some time to get into it. All in all, I'm glad I persisted with it, but I'm also glad that I'm finally finished it.
October 13, 2014
Remarkable woman, excellent biography: fair, balanced, detailed, well-written. Scholars might wish for a more extensive documentation, but there are enough references to take a curious reader more deeply into Gellhorn's life and letters (also collected by the biographer in Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn). This is on my "Roosevelt Research" shelf because Gellhorn was a colleague and friend of Lorena Hickok and a friend of ER. (There's a funny story about ER on p. 81.)
September 9, 2016
Rather amazing life--Gellman was a war reporter for decades, from WW1 through Vietnam, as well as a writer of fiction. And, btw, married to Hemingway for only 5 of those years.
Side note: What I find odd, and somewhat disturbing, in reading about Hemingway and his wives (just one to go--Mary) is how casually they all leave their children with nannies or caretakers, often for weeks or months at a time. The adult children report that this was as distressing as one might think.
Side note: What I find odd, and somewhat disturbing, in reading about Hemingway and his wives (just one to go--Mary) is how casually they all leave their children with nannies or caretakers, often for weeks or months at a time. The adult children report that this was as distressing as one might think.
May 10, 2021
It took watching Ken Burn’s documentary on Hemingway to remind me that Caroline Moorehead's 2003 biography of Hemingway's third wife, Martha Gellhorn has been resting on my bookshelf these past 18 years. At one point in this terrific biography, Gellhorn is quoted as saying she wanted a “fantastic life.” Morehead’s book reveals Martha as a keen observer of people, governments, and practitioner of self-inflicted psychoanalysis. The book reads like a novel where the main characters think aloud. This Moorehead can do because Gellhorn was a prolific letter writer (which makes one sad for the current loss of the art of letter writing today). Martha was born in St. Louis and despite her many travels found her yet devoted to her Mother, returning to St Louis numerous times during her life.
Gellhorn was a writer long before she met Hemmingway, who after 5 years of marriage she not only detested but refused to talk about, or accept her name being joined to his in any publication or interview. She is most famous for her journalism documenting the ravages of the depression on everyday life and then as a war correspondent, covering the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. The story of how she managed to be in the D-Day invasion, on a hospital ship and the beaches collecting the dead and wounded makes for quite a thriller Her most devastating moment came when she was among the first to see Dachau liberated with its dead and dying. Her articles and books (except for a spell of entertainment fiction written for a payday) were mostly known for influential pieces that explored victims' stories, with an empathy for the lost soles of war and injustice. Seeing the Fascist war in Spain and the Nazi terror up close she came to dislike people as dishonest and capable of hate and violence. She especially disliked German citizens who professed they knew nothing. And later she became a staunch supporter of Isreal branding the Arabs evil. Her major desire was for travel and her travel book and articles are well regarded. She lived in the United States, the UK, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and Africa, often building a new house and settling for a brief stay.
Gellhorn like Hemingway was not a likable person and Moorehead spears no ink by leaving out Martha's social anxieties, curt and undiplomatic tone. She comes across as brave, fearless, opinionated, and most obnoxious. A strong woman in a mostly male-dominated career who failed to see in herself the faults that she despised in others. She had a dark side that seems to have taken over her compassion and it occupies the whole second half of her life and this book. Since she did not have a child of her own when in her 40s (she had had at least four abortions) she combed Italy to adopt. finding a fat, cute baby in Italy. She named him Sandy and loved him unconditionally until he was 5 years old… and then he became a target for her ridicule, mainly because he became a fat child and a fat adult. When you read some of the letters she wrote to him from her travels you cringe at the unintended cruelty. By the end of her life in her 80s, they seem to have reconciled, long after she left so many psychological scars on her child. Like Hemingway, although much later in life at 89, she committed suicide, as she laid in bed and took a pill or pills.
Gellhorn was a writer long before she met Hemmingway, who after 5 years of marriage she not only detested but refused to talk about, or accept her name being joined to his in any publication or interview. She is most famous for her journalism documenting the ravages of the depression on everyday life and then as a war correspondent, covering the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. The story of how she managed to be in the D-Day invasion, on a hospital ship and the beaches collecting the dead and wounded makes for quite a thriller Her most devastating moment came when she was among the first to see Dachau liberated with its dead and dying. Her articles and books (except for a spell of entertainment fiction written for a payday) were mostly known for influential pieces that explored victims' stories, with an empathy for the lost soles of war and injustice. Seeing the Fascist war in Spain and the Nazi terror up close she came to dislike people as dishonest and capable of hate and violence. She especially disliked German citizens who professed they knew nothing. And later she became a staunch supporter of Isreal branding the Arabs evil. Her major desire was for travel and her travel book and articles are well regarded. She lived in the United States, the UK, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and Africa, often building a new house and settling for a brief stay.
Gellhorn like Hemingway was not a likable person and Moorehead spears no ink by leaving out Martha's social anxieties, curt and undiplomatic tone. She comes across as brave, fearless, opinionated, and most obnoxious. A strong woman in a mostly male-dominated career who failed to see in herself the faults that she despised in others. She had a dark side that seems to have taken over her compassion and it occupies the whole second half of her life and this book. Since she did not have a child of her own when in her 40s (she had had at least four abortions) she combed Italy to adopt. finding a fat, cute baby in Italy. She named him Sandy and loved him unconditionally until he was 5 years old… and then he became a target for her ridicule, mainly because he became a fat child and a fat adult. When you read some of the letters she wrote to him from her travels you cringe at the unintended cruelty. By the end of her life in her 80s, they seem to have reconciled, long after she left so many psychological scars on her child. Like Hemingway, although much later in life at 89, she committed suicide, as she laid in bed and took a pill or pills.
February 18, 2022
Closed the book this morning on “Gellhorn-A Twentieth Century Life” in complete awe.
Author Caroline Moorehead has delivered a gripping, honest and intimate look at the woman Martha Gellhorn.
Mercurial and brilliant, the restless drive of Gellhorn throughout not just wars (the Spanish Civil war through Vietnam and the cold war) as a correspondent, but the times and history of the near full century she lived.
Reporting on the Great Depression and forging a lifelong friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, ingenious in finding ways to travel to the front of the Spanish Civil War, stowing away on a hospital ship at Normandy on D-Day, living in Europe to cover WWII, visiting the extermination camps and the Nuremburg trials, Korea, Vietnam…only a very few instances in Gellhorn’s life.
She lived all over the world in different periods finding a particular love of Africa in her later years as she struggled to accept an aging body. The quotes delivered throughout this biography punctuate the insight to her mind provided by the author. In addition to Gellhorn’s war reporting were travel articles, several short fiction offerings, and novels.
The people in her orbit, family, friends, and enemies reads like a Who’s Who of the twentieth century. She did not suffer fools and could be savage in correspondence of which she was prolific. Her personality was caustic, and unforgiving, without a mental filter to manage the feelings of those around her. While this scathing surfaced often, Moorehead also gives vision to Gellhorn’s despair at not finding love, actions that appear compulsive, and for all the bravado, an underlying insecurity.
This was a fascinating biography that kept me from other obligations, up late two nights reading, and awaking before dawn to anxiously read the last two chapters. Martha Gellhorn was complex, intriguing, passionate for the downtrodden and maddening. She lived a hundred lives in 90 years. In a constant search for fulfillment, both personally and for humanity, she may not have found it when she surrendered a well lived life. Moorehead has gifted a literary journey that will keep Martha Gellhorn’s legacy alive.
Oh, and she was married briefly to Ernest Hemingway – an unfair fact that is assigned to Martha Gellhorn as her claim to existence as his third wife. In the totality of Marth’s span on earth, though Hemingway was integral past their brief time together, he could be a postscript.
Author Caroline Moorehead has delivered a gripping, honest and intimate look at the woman Martha Gellhorn.
Mercurial and brilliant, the restless drive of Gellhorn throughout not just wars (the Spanish Civil war through Vietnam and the cold war) as a correspondent, but the times and history of the near full century she lived.
Reporting on the Great Depression and forging a lifelong friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, ingenious in finding ways to travel to the front of the Spanish Civil War, stowing away on a hospital ship at Normandy on D-Day, living in Europe to cover WWII, visiting the extermination camps and the Nuremburg trials, Korea, Vietnam…only a very few instances in Gellhorn’s life.
She lived all over the world in different periods finding a particular love of Africa in her later years as she struggled to accept an aging body. The quotes delivered throughout this biography punctuate the insight to her mind provided by the author. In addition to Gellhorn’s war reporting were travel articles, several short fiction offerings, and novels.
The people in her orbit, family, friends, and enemies reads like a Who’s Who of the twentieth century. She did not suffer fools and could be savage in correspondence of which she was prolific. Her personality was caustic, and unforgiving, without a mental filter to manage the feelings of those around her. While this scathing surfaced often, Moorehead also gives vision to Gellhorn’s despair at not finding love, actions that appear compulsive, and for all the bravado, an underlying insecurity.
This was a fascinating biography that kept me from other obligations, up late two nights reading, and awaking before dawn to anxiously read the last two chapters. Martha Gellhorn was complex, intriguing, passionate for the downtrodden and maddening. She lived a hundred lives in 90 years. In a constant search for fulfillment, both personally and for humanity, she may not have found it when she surrendered a well lived life. Moorehead has gifted a literary journey that will keep Martha Gellhorn’s legacy alive.
Oh, and she was married briefly to Ernest Hemingway – an unfair fact that is assigned to Martha Gellhorn as her claim to existence as his third wife. In the totality of Marth’s span on earth, though Hemingway was integral past their brief time together, he could be a postscript.
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