Dame Rebecca West, 1970 (photo)

Rebecca West 1892 – 1983) English novelist, journalist, polemicist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public intellectuals of the 20th century. Her major works include Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), on the history and culture of Yugoslavia; A Train of Powder (1955), her coverage of the Nuremberg trials; The Meaning of Treason, later The New Meaning of Treason, a study of World War II and Communist traitors. She had a ten year affair, and a son, with H.G. Wells.