Chapter 13, Lies, Dammed Lies and Lillian Hellman Summary and Analysis

Lillian Hellman was also a part of the leftist conspiracy in the post World War II era, but unline Gollancz, she never admitted it. She was also a great practitioner of disregarding the truth.

She became a radical when she became involved with trade unions in the motion picture industry. Hellman began to write after beginning her long affair with Dashiell Hammett, the mystery writer. After the success of her play, The Children's Hour, she began to write screenplays for Hollywood and Broadway. She became a supporter of the Communist Party in the mid-1930s although she always denies being a Party member, even before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Hellman had quarrels with other writers. Like others who supported the workers' movement, she had little contact with actual...