Behr, Edward Samuel

▪ 2008

      British journalist and author

born May 7, 1926, Paris, France

died May 26, 2007, Paris

covered wars in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as such international emergencies as the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, in his role as a foreign correspondent for Reuters news agency (1950–54) and the American newsmagazines Time (1957–63), The Saturday Evening Post (1963–65), and Newsweek (1965–87). During 1968 alone, he was on hand to report on the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the student riots in France, and the unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising in Prague. After serving in the Indian army's intelligence division during World War II, Behr studied history at Magdalene College, Cambridge (B.A., 1951; M.A., 1953). He left Reuters to serve briefly (1955–56) as information officer for the European Coal and Steel Community before returning to journalism. Behr's books included The Algerian Problem (1961), the critical biography Hirohito: Behind the Myth (1989), and Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite: The Rise and Fall of the Ceausescus (1991). The Last Emperor (1987), Behr's biography of China's Pu Yi, was released in conjunction with a film of the same name.

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