Born in Brooklyn on December 1, 1935, not too far from Coney Island and its amusement park’s roller coaster, Allan Stewart Königsberg at 17 years of age changes his name to Heywood Allen and soon becomes Woody Allen. He has written and filmed, and often starred in, 48 films for the big screen, from “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?”to “A Rainy Day in New York” (plus a television movie). A new film, “Rifkin’s Festival”, is currently in post-production. Every Monday he plays the clarinet with his New Orleans Jazz Band at Manhattan’s Café Carlyle. Beloved, especially in Europe, and reviled, especially in the United States, he was and is a great comedian. And like every great comedian he was and is a great tragedian - not without irony, as he would say. Allan Stewart Königsberg, a.k.a. Woody Allen, is an author and a man with a huge worldview. Focusing not on his cinema, but rather in his films and with his characters, this book attempts to describe that worldview.

Roberto Escobar formerly taught Political Philosophy at the University of Milan di Milano and writes for the Italian daily newspaper “Il Sole-24 ore”.