Pursuit: The Memoirs of John Calder

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"Publish and be damned", Wellington's famous adage, runs like a leitmotiv through John Calder's memoirs. He has been damned by a censorious press, by politicians, by other publishers and by organs of the state for publishing books on sensitive issues. Damned also for publishing such authors as Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi and Hubert Selby Jr, as well as for bringing to public notice the abuses of the armies and security forces of colonial countries. He took on American authors who could not be published in the United States during the McCarthy witch-hunt. He exposed the atrocities of the Algerian and other African wars, and produced many books on British political, social and moral issues, which only a totally independent publisher could have done.Born into the most conservative of establishment families, John Calder has always gone his own way – seeking out literary genius and creating a greater awareness of the world we inhabit. His publishing...