In his widely praised biography of the cinema's greatest comic genius, Kenneth Lynn sets Chaplin's art, his public and private life and his controversial politics in the context of his times. Lynn's extensive research and critical acuity, coupled with his deep historical knowledge, have enabled him to produce a book that has been recognised as definitive and which brilliantly succeeds in separating the facts of his subject's life from Chaplin's own artful fiction and, in doing so, offers us a deeper understanding of both the bright and the dark side of this extraordinary man.