About the Author

Richard Davenport-Hines is an author and journalist who lives in London. His books include The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics, Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin, and a major biography of Auden. A recipient of the Wolfson Prize for History and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he writes for the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the Sunday Times, and the Independent