Born in Prague in 1916, M. (Miroslav) Sasek studied architecture but worked as a painter and illustrator for most of his life. Having moved to Paris in 1947 to study, he chose not to return to Prague after the Communist takeover. He earned a living as a graphic artist and from 1951 worked for Radio Free Europe until his death in 1980. Starting with This is Paris, published in 1957, his books painted a charmingly cosmopolitan and evocative picture of the world’s great places. Lots of fun details to explore in the illustrations!
He wrote a total of 18 books in the "This Is" series, about major cities or small countries, one about Cape Canaveral that has since been renamed, and one on the United Nations that has become quite scarce. After his death, three authors worked together to pull together a biography (now out of print) called This is M. Sasek, and there have been two volumes called This is America and This is the World that combine parts of several titles into one.
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