Book description
Until the posthumous publication of the Millennium Trilogy, Stieg
Larsson was probably best known for his commitment to left-wing causes,
and his tireless work as an anti-fascist activist. Horrified by the rise
of far-right extremism in Sweden, he threw himself into monitoring and
exposing these often shadowy and violent groups and gained an
international reputation for the depth of his achievements and
knowledge. However his work carried substantial risks and he and his
partner Eva Gabrielsson lived in constant fear for their lives. When a
friend of theirs was found shot dead in a stairwell, police raided the
killers hideout and found photographs of Stieg and Eva chillingly, they
were the next targets. Jan Erik-Pettersson shows how Stiegs activism and
energetic championing of social justice and womens rights characterised
his life, as well as demonstrating how these concerns animated his
huge-selling Millennium Trilogy, in particular the unforgettable
character of Lisbeth Salander. He also persuasively establishes Stiegs
place within the explosion of Scandinavian crime with which his novels
are so closely associated, showing that in many ways his fiction stands
somewhat apart from the work of other authors in this tradition. In
Stieg, Jan Erik-Pettersson portrays a man willing to put his life at
risk in order to fight for the things in which he believed, and an
author whose inimitable work was energized by the causes to which he was
so strongly committed. Until the posthumous publication of the
Millennium Trilogy, Stieg Larsson was probably best known for his
commitment to left-wing causes, and his tireless work as an anti-fascist
activist. Horrified by the rise of far-right extremism in Sweden, he
threw himself into monitoring and exposing these often shadowy and
violent groups and gained an international reputation for the depth of
his achievements and knowledge. However his work carried substantial
risks and he and his partner Eva Gabrielsson lived in constant fear for
their lives. When a friend of theirs was found shot dead in a stairwell,
police raided the killers hideout and found photographs of Stieg and Eva
chillingly, they were the next targets. Jan Erik-Pettersson shows how
Stiegs activism and energetic championing of social justice and womens
rights characterised his life, as well as demonstrating how these
concerns animated his huge-selling Millennium Trilogy, in particular the
unforgettable character of Lisbeth Salander. He also persuasively
establishes Stiegs place within the explosion of Scandinavian crime with
which his novels are so closely associated, showing that in many ways
his fiction stands somewhat apart from the work of other authors in this
tradition. In Stieg, Jan Erik-Pettersson portrays a man willing to put
his life at risk in order to fight for the things in which he believed,
and an author whose inimitable work was energized by the causes to which
he was so strongly committed.
