Overview

Charming, bold and good-humoured, James Donovan was a larger-than-life figure who led a fascinating and magnificently varied career, primarily as a negotiator on behalf of prisoners. Touchstone Pictures have announced a 2015 film depicting Donovan's life as a negotiator, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. To coincide with the film, Hesperus is thrilled to publish an exclusive paperback biography of his life, written by Philip J. Bigger. Fresh out of law school, Donovan enrolled in the United States Navy during the Second World War and, towards the end of the war, was charged with collecting and recording evidence of Nazi atrocities, a role that then transitioned into his becoming a prosecutor at the Nuremburg trials - in charge of organising the photographic evidence. Once returned to the US he set up a private legal practice, and his reputation grew rapidly. In 1957, he became involved with defending the captured Russian spy Rudolph Abel and then rapidly became embroiled in a much larger international political melee as he attempted to secure the release of the captured U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Working privately but sanctioned by the CIA, he made many trips to East Berlin, until his eventual success. His career would then see another twist as he was entrusted with negotiating directly with Fidel Castro over the fate of the prisoners from the Bay of Pigs fiasco.In amongst his international negotiating career he found time to run for Senate and become President of the New York art school, Pratt Institute.

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9781843915782

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Now retired, Philip J. Bigger worked as an administrator in probation and pretrial services for the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

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