C. P. Snow's place in twentieth-century letters is unique: no other major writer in any creative literary genre established himself also in science and in the high ranks of governmental and public service. And in an age in which most leading literary figures prided themselves in being outside the establishment, Snow was almost from first to last securely within it; as such, he was frequently scorned and occasionally praised. But his unique position enabled him to understand what he called the "corridors of power" and to write perceptively of those who would seek to gain and use power. The main theme of his novels was the uses and abuses of power: power in government and outside--in science, in academe, in business, in personal relationships.

Charles Percy Snow was born in Leicester, England, on 15 October 1905, to William Edward and Ada Sophia Robinson Snow; his father worked in a shoe...