Nothing is so revealing, though, as their attitudes to the Jews. In her writings on Nuremberg, Rebecca West never mentioned the extermination of the Jews, whom she privately disparaged, while Dorothy Thompson turned against the Zionist cause, accusing Israel of "rabid nationalism" and "World Jewry" of dominating US foreign policy. The truth was that both women were uncomfortable with Jews as anything but passive victims. They had been right about the Nazis at a time when most others were wrong.

Their tragedy was to outlive their time: two femmes fatales who were mainly fatal to themselves (Thompson died in 1961, West in 1983). This splendid double portrait by Susan Hertog is a fitting tribute to their astounding accomplishments.