'This study of Brecht''s theatre from eight different aspects was first published in 1959. The book aims to explain the difficult aspects of his ideology and political leanings in a straightforward manner. It traces his stylistic development as a playwright and stage director through each of his major plays and explains his evolving notion of epic theatre within the political and social climate of the 1920s, Marxism, Nazism and post-war Communism.'