For almost half a century H.G. Wells was an international phenomenon, the only writer of his time who could command an audience with both Roosevelt and Stalin. His circle of friends included George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, G.K. Chesterton, Somerset Maugham and, of course, the young Rebecca West, with whom he had a long term affair. Equally illustrious were his circle of enemies, including the indomitable Hilaire Belloc, who destroyed Wells in a vicious and public argument.