The most influential book written about why intelligent, dedicated and noble men with the highest motives fell under the hypnotic spell of Communism remains The God That Failed, a collection of thirteen essays by Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Richard Wright, Andre Gide, Louis Fischer, Stephen Spender, R. H. S. Crossman and the book's editor Steven Engerman. The essays chronicle the noble motives that drew these individuals to the Party, its cynical manipulation of their idealism and their ultimate disillusionment and sense of betrayal.
