About the Author

Graham Greene (1904-1991), whose long life nearly spanned the length of the twentieth century, was one of its greatest novelists. Educated atBerkhamstedSchoolandBalliolCollege,Oxford, he started his career as a sub-editor of theLondonTimes.He began to attract notice as a novelist with his fourth book,Orient Express,in 1932. In 1935, he trekked across northernLiberia, his first experience inAfrica, told inA Journey Without Maps(1936). He converted to Catholicism in 1926, an edifying decision, and reported on religious persecution inMexicoin 1938 inThe Lawless Roads,which served as a background for his famousThe Power and the Glory, one of several "Catholic" novels (BrightonRock,The Heart of the Matter,The End of the Affair).During the war he worked for the British secret service in Sierra Leone; afterward, he began wide-ranging travels as a journalist, which were reflected in novels such asThe Quiet American,Our Man in Havana,The Comedians,Travels with My Aunt,The Honorary Consul,The Human Factor,Monsignor Quixote,andThe Captain and the Enemy.As well as his many novels, Graham Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, two books of autobiography,A Sort of LifeandWays of Escape, two biographies, and four books for children. He also contributed hundreds of essays and film and book reviews toThe Spectatorand other journals, many of which appear in the late collectionReflections.Most of his novels have been filmed, includingThe Third Man, which the author first wrote as a film treatment. Graham Greene was named Companion of Honour and received the Order of Merit among numerous other awards.
Christopher Hitchens was a contributing editor toVanity Fair, Slate, andThe Atlantic, and the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Orwell. He also wrote the international bestsellersgod Is Not Great- How Religion Poisons Everything, Hitch-22- A Memoir, andArguably. He died in 2011.