After an abusive childhood, writer Mary McCarthy rejected the Catholicism of her upbringing and turned to atheism and Communism. She later grew disillusioned with the Soviet Union but retained her very liberal politics until her death.She controversially defended the Vietcong during the Vietnam War, even visiting Vietnam multiple times during the conflict and reporting critically on the American military’s brutal tactics. In the 1970s, McCarthy covered the Watergate hearings.
Despite her busy career as a critic, novelist, and political activist, McCarthy managed to fit in four marriages as well as a close friendship with Hannah Arendt.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/02/beach-reads-summer_n_7699708.html?ir=Women&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046
