Bertha von Suttner was a pioneer in the peace movement at the end of the 19th century, while Alfred Nobel earned his fortune on the invention of dynamite. This book tells the gripping story of their relationship and how she came to influence him in his decision to establish the Nobel Peace Prize, "the most prestigious prize in the world", according to the Oxford Dictionary of Contemporary History. Their correspondence of more than ninety letters, written with intensity and elegance, is the main source of this work.
Young Bertha Kinsky, as her maiden name is, came from Austria to work as a secretary for Alfred Nobel in Paris in 1875. This was the beginning of a friendship that would last for more than twenty years, until Nobel's death in 1896. In The Woman behind the Nobel Peace Prize, we follow the ups and downs of their professional and private lives, and see how their stories and thinking interlink.
Von Suttner, full of vitality, went from living the nonchalant life of a young aristocrat to become a dedicated peace activist and author - a story of personal growth and female emanicipation. Nobel, an engimatic character who combined technical passion with a literary interest, increasingly looked for ways to support peaceful solutions as an alternative to war, and von Suttner prodded him on through the stages of the writing of his last will.
The reader is also taken on a journey through a Europe in an era of fundamental changes - the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the bourgeoisie, the explosion of industrialization and the stark contrast of militarism and a peace-movement full of optimism in "La Belle Epoque". But most of all, this is a moving story that sheds new light on the origins of the Nobel Peace Prize, in which the woman behind gets her rightful place.
The author Anne Synnøve Simensen developed her interest in the topic when she worked at the Nobel Peace Prize Centre in Oslo. First published by the Norwegian publishing company Cappelen Damm (2012), this is a revised and amplified edition for an English-speaking audience.
From Norwegian reviews of the book:
"With empathy and thoroughness, the road towards the world's most important prize is depicted. Alfred Nobel is more subdued than the woman behind the idea. But together they were - let's say - dynamite!"
(Johan O. Jensen, Adresseavisen)
"Brilliantly told by Simensen, Bertha von Suttner and the époque she was living in becomes clear to the reader. Her relationship to Alfred Nobel is vividly described and made credible through plenty of quotes from their correspondence over twenty years. They become people of flesh and blood...I most strongly recommend this exciting book!"
(Erle Skaar, COGITO)