Understanding The Lord of the Flies

Understanding Great Literature

by Andy Koopmans

After witnessing the violence commited by both sides of the conflict during World War II while serving in the British Royal Navy, William Golding returned to England with the conviction that humanity was fundamentally sick. After the war, Golding explored this belief while writing his first and most famous novel, "Lord of the Flies." The novel's challenging themes and Golding's well-crafted writing made "Lord of the Flies" one of the most popular and critically addressed books of the twentieth century.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published June 18, 2003

About the author

Andy is the author of sixteen non-fiction titles, including histories of the Leopold & Loeb trial, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Blues, and biographies of figures including Bruce Lee, Charles Manson, Pol Pot, and Nelson Mandela. He is also the editor of a volume of essays, Examining Pop Culture: Crime and Criminals.

Andy is also a fiction writer, essayist, and poet with publications in journals and anthologies including Black Scat Noir, Black Scat Review, Sunshine Noir II, Fiction International, Central Park, The Southern Anthology, Collage & Bricolage, The Journal of Experimental Fiction, Conceptions Southwest, Heaven Bone, and others. He is the author of two fiction collections: Narrative Cult Visions (1997 MFA thesis) and The Veronicas of Our Own Perversions (2024).