Ben Hecht was, according to Jean-Luc Godard, ‘a genius’ who ‘invented 80% of what is used in Hollywood movies today’. Besides producing dozens of now classic scripts — including Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind (for which he was never credited) and Notorious — Ben Hecht was also known as an ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During WWII, he was an outspoken crusader for the imperilled Jews of Europe and later became a fierce propagandist for the Irgun. This self-declared ‘child of the century’ came to embody much that defined Jewish America in his time.