No writer typified the American twentieth century like the mythologised and misunderstood, celebrated and lambasted Susan Sontag (1933-2004). No writer dealt with so many different worlds. Sontag wrote novels, diaries and essays about art and camp, porno and politics, feminism and homosexuality, fame and style, and fascism and communism. And no serious writer had so many exceptional lovers.

Benjamin Moser is the author of the official biography of Susan Sontag, Sontag: Her life and work. He tells the story of this intellectual, studying the work that gave rise to her reputation. Moser had exclusive access to Sontag’s private archives and interviewed hundreds of people all over the world, many of whom had never before spoken about Sontag, including her last partner, Annie Liebovitz.