ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL: A Study of the Profumo Affair

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1963

Presumably there will be other books on the Profumo affair, but it is hard to imagine a better one than this. Written against time as the end of the case unfolded, the three authors, all staff members of the London Times, brought to their task the source material of this great paper, journalistic balance and insight. The scandal that seemed to carve out a piece of the front page in every newspaper is set into perspective here. It overshadowed the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll; it followed the Wolfenden Report; it came to light when the British moral climate was in ferment and not during a Victorian vacuum of virtue. All its elements are woven together in essay chapters that reveal the people behind the headlines. The parliamentary tangle that brought the security aspects to the fore (only to be uried behind the bedroom- confessions of Christine Keeler and Dr. Stephen Ward) is a major part of the book and, as reported here, the news that never got good coverage on this side of the Atlantic. This could have been a pea-soup fog of sex, sin and corruption. While not avoiding any aspect of the case, the book never descends from the level of intelligent discussion which it assumes from the first page. A British best seller in paper back, this will surely sell and it deserves to. As compelling as tightly told fiction with the echoes of Greek tragedy and some of the fascination of the Oscar Wilde case.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION