Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0156001993, Paperback)

Misogynist, anti-Semite, misanthrope -- Roald Dahl was reputed to be these, as well as war hero, devoted father, and philanthropist. As a friend once commented, "almost anything you could say about him would be true." To some, Dahl was the dashing husband of actress Patricia Neal and loving family man. To others, he was a ruthless, egotistical bully. And to millions worldwide, Dahl was the Evelyn Waugh of children's books, the beloved scrumdiddlyumptious storyteller of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, The Witches, and James and the Giant Peach, among other classics.

In this acclaimed unauthorized biography of Dahl, Jeremy Treglown reveals the man behind the controversy, tracing Dahl's life from its comfortable beginnings through shocking personal tragedy and enormous commercial success to his death in 1990. Drawing on Dahl's correspondence as well as on interviews with Patricia Neal, two surviving children, and numerous others, Treglown has crafted a "scrupulously fair-minded" portrait of a complex man, "the perfect antidote to Dahl's own triumph at image making" (New York Times Book Review).