Today we're going to talk about a writer who was unique in combining his storytelling with some of the

most dramatic moments of the whole of the 20th century and taking part in some of those

himself when he was part of the action. From the front lines of the First World War to the

literary salons of Paris in the 1920s to the bloody front lines of the Spanish Civil War, the beaches

of Normandy and the Revolution in Cuba.

He was there for all of it.

He's also someone who's been credited as having created the ultimate blueprint for modern American masculinity,

the stoic, rugged individual who hunts lions, fights bulls, and catches giant Marlins with his

bare hands. The master of the iceberg theory, the idea that if you strip language down to its

absolute bar bare bones, that's where power lies in what you don't say. He revolutionized

English literature. He was a Nobel laureate, and yet he actually used the

fishing boat to hunt Nazi submarines in the Caribbean, and he was secretly investigated by our old

friend Jay Edgar Hoover, who we covered in a previous series of legacy. And then there are the

women, the marriages, the affairs, the breakups, fallouts, scandals, rouse, and a lot,

a lot of drinking. To call this person accident prone would be an understatement. He survived

being blown up in the First World War, attempting espionage in the second, a car crash, boat accidents,

and two, two plane crashes. We are, of course, talking about Ernest Hemingway.

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Legacy.

I'm Peter Franklin.

I'm Afwa Hirsch.

And this is Legacy, the show that explores the lives, events, and ideas that have shaped our world and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve.

Yeah. and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve. This is part one.

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