Inside, Outside

London: Collins, 1985. 1st. h/b. Very good, 1st UK edition, unclipped d/j (vg), black clothbound boards, gilt spine titling bright; text block firm (front gutter a little loosened, slight forward lean) pages unmarked, sunning on edges.. 8vo: royal (250 x 170 / 10"" x 6_""). Herman Wouk's classic novel moves on from the grand themes which have won him international acclaim - war, the fate of nations, and the indomitable spirit of man - to the quest for identity, in the clash between the Inside of faith and family and the Outside of the glittery American dream. Inside, Outside sweeps through more than sixty years, from the pre-war, pre-atomic innocence of the twenties and thirties to the turbulent immediate past. Scenes of rollicking family humour and show-business comedy alternate with sudden tragedy, the spectacle of a falling President and the explosion of war. A bittersweet first love, relived after forty years, and a tense secret wartime mission between Washington and Jerusalem call forth the author's renowned storytelling gift. An intense, personal book about intimate things, Inside, Outside is a merry, poignant, sometimes ribald picture of the American Jewish experience, by a master at the peak of his powers.