Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899 as the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield - this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war - in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.
Hemingway's passion for Spain, which I share as I now live there, is famous. He also had a passion for bullfighting, a very emotive subject. His knowledge on the subject is encapsulated by this book as it delves with clarity and passion into the classic beauty that is the bullfight. The tussle between man and beast, the amazing skills and the individuals described in this book take away any prejudices you may have about the sport. This also contains some of the finest short stories you will ever read. Review by Keith Floyd, chef, and the author of a string of books including 'Floyd on Fish', 'The Best of Floyd' and 'Floyd Uncorked'. (Kirkus UK)