This book tracks in rich detail the well-known German-American novelist, Stefan Heym, and his involvement with communist party politics. From Heym's first published work in 1931, written when he was 18 years of age, a scandalous, satirical poem decrying aid to China, the author adds critical details to our knowledge of Heym, his literary and political career, and his many prominent acquaintances directly and indirectly involved in communist affairs.

Drawn from numerous sources, many made available by the Freedom of Information Act, the research presented will aid historians, political scientists, literary experts, and other readers interested in Heym, the conflictive history he lived and wrote about, and the labyrinthine conduits, some public, others secret, that aided the communist movement worldwide between the 1930s and the 1960s.