Christopher Isherwood was only twenty-one when he began his first novel, All the Conspirators. in his introduction to the American edition, Isherwood explains: All the Conspirators records a minor engagement in what Shelley calls the great war between the old and young. And what a war it was! in many ways this novel (like the classic Berlin Stories) is a period piece growing out of a particular historical situationclashes between parents and children with all their passionate moral struggles. Isherwoods vivid portrayal of an older generation trying to hold on while a younger generation tries to wrench free still resonates and disarms.