Alexander Baron (Author of From the City, from the Plough)

Alexander Baron鈥檚 Followers (33)

Alexander Baron

Born

in Maidenhead, The United Kingdom

December 04, 1917

Died

December 06, 1999

edit data

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alexander Baron (4 December 1917 鈥� 6 December 1999) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for his highly acclaimed novel about D-Day entitled From the City from the Plough (1948) and his London novel The Lowlife (1963). His father was Barnet Bernstein, a Polish-Jewish immigrant to Britain who settled in the East End of London in 1908 and later worked as a furrier. Alexander Baron was born in Maidenhead and raised in the Hackney district of London. He attended Hackney Downs School. During the 1930s, with his schoolfriend Ted Willis, Baron was a leading activist and organiser of the Labour League of Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alexander Baron (4 December 1917 鈥� 6 December 1999) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for his highly acclaimed novel about D-Day entitled From the City from the Plough (1948) and his London novel The Lowlife (1963). His father was Barnet Bernstein, a Polish-Jewish immigrant to Britain who settled in the East End of London in 1908 and later worked as a furrier. Alexander Baron was born in Maidenhead and raised in the Hackney district of London. He attended Hackney Downs School. During the 1930s, with his schoolfriend Ted Willis, Baron was a leading activist and organiser of the Labour League of Youth (at that time aligned with the Communist Party), campaigning against the fascists in the streets of the East End. Baron became increasingly disillusioned with far left politics as he spoke to International Brigade fighters returning from the Spanish Civil War, and finally broke with the communists after the Hitler鈥揝talin Pact of August 1939.

Baron served in the Pioneer Corps of the British Army during World War II, experiencing fierce fighting in the Italian campaign, Normandy and in Northern France and Belgium. As a sapper, he was among the first Allied troops to be landed in Sicily, Italy and on D-Day. He used his wartime experiences as the basis for his three best-selling war novels. After the war he became assistant editor of Tribune before publishing his first novel From the City from the Plough (1948). At this time, at the behest of his publisher Jonathan Cape, he also changed his name from Bernstein to Baron.

Baron's personal papers are held in the archives of the University of Reading. His wartime letters and unpublished memoirs were used by the historian Sean Longden for his book To the Victor the Spoils, a social history of the British Army between D Day and VE Day.[3] Baron has also been the subject of essays by Iain Sinclair and Ken Worpole.

As well as continuing to write novels, in the 1950s Baron wrote screenplays for Hollywood, and by the 1960s he had become a regular writer on BBC's Play for Today, for drama serials like Poldark and A Horseman Riding By, and BBC classic adaptions including Jane Eyre, Sense And Sensibility, and Oliver Twist. ...more

Combine Editions
Alexander Baron鈥檚 books

Average rating: 4.22 · 1,065 ratings · 165 reviews · 100 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	From the City, from the Plough 4.30 avg rating — 456 ratings — published 1948 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lowlife 4.23 avg rating — 315 ratings — published 1963 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	There's No Home 4.05 avg rating — 107 ratings — published 1950	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	King Dido 4.17 avg rating — 66 ratings — published 1969 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Human Kind 4.33 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 1973 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rosie Hogarth 3.96 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 1951 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	With Hope, Farewell 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1973 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The War Baby 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Golden Princess liked it 3.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Strip Jack Naked liked it 3.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1966 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Alexander Baron…

Quotes by Alexander Baron (?)

“Among the uneducated (which frankly you would call the general population where I live) the serious reader is a lonely person. He goes about among the crowds with his thoughts stuffed inside him. He probably dare not even mention them to his nearest pals for fear of being thought a schmo. There鈥檚 a hunger in his eyes for someone to talk to.”
― Alexander Baron, The Lowlife

0 likes

“Then we had tea, a big meal with a fresh loaf from which Dennis cut me inch-thick slices, smoked haddock served swimming in melted butter, a cut-glass dish of jam full of real strawberries and a home-baked fruit cake.”
― Alexander Baron, The Human Kind

0 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Patrick Hamil...: Christopher Fowler	36	15	Mar 30, 2014 05:34AM
Bright Young Things: London	27	35	Oct 23, 2015 06:20AM
Bright Young Things: Working Class Fiction & Non-Fiction	44	336	Sep 05, 2016 09:56AM
The Patrick Hamil...: Bands who namecheck Patrick Hamilton	3	12	Oct 05, 2016 04:23AM
Bright Young Things: What book have you just finished?	673	249	Sep 17, 2017 11:00AM

More…

欧宝娱乐

Alexander Baron鈥檚 Followers (33)

Alexander Baron

Combine EditionsAlexander Baron鈥檚 books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Alexander Baron鈥檚 books