Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner: The Records of an Eventful Life, Two Volumes in One

by Bertha von Suttner

“Both Beecher Stowe and von Suttner were neither simply writers of popular entertainment nor authors of tendentious propaganda... They used entertainment for idealistic purposes.” —Leo Tolstoy Memoirs of Bertha von Suttner—The Records of an Eventful Life Volume, Two Volumes in One is the 1910 autobiography of Baroness BERTHA VON SUTTNER (1843–1914), an Austrian-Bohemian novelist and leading figure in the peace movement. Von Suttner wrote many books, including the novel Lay Down your Arms , her most famous work. In 1905 she became the second female Nobel laureate, the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first Austrian laureate. Her memoirs record the chief events of her life from her birth in Prague until the death of her husband, Baron Arthur von Suttner, in 1902. The two combined volumes cover her childhood, meeting with Alfred Nobel, her wedding, and life in the Caucasus with her husband. In addition, it includes her trips to the US and to the first Peace Conference in The Hague. In 1911, the British journal The Independent recommended her memoirs “as a distinct addition to the world’s enduring autobiographies.”

920 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Bertha Felicitas Sophie Freifrau von Suttner (Baroness Bertha von Suttner, Gräfin (Countess) Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau; 9 June 1843 – 21 June 1914) was an Austrian novelist, radical (organizational) pacifist, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the second to be awarded the Nobel Prize.

Suttner became a leading figure in the peace movement with the publication of her novel, Die Waffen nieder! ("Lay Down Your Arms!") in 1889 and founded an Austrian pacifist organization in 1891. She gained international repute as editor of the international pacifist journal Die Waffen nieder!, named after her book, from 1892 to 1899. In 1911 she became a member of the advisory council of the Carnegie Peace Foundation.[4]

Her pacifism was influenced by the writings of Immanuel Kant, Henry Thomas Buckle, Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin and Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy praised Die Waffen nieder!). [5] Suttner was also a journalist, with one historian stating her work revealed her as "a most perceptive and adept political commentator".