Today known primarily as the author of Bambi, Felix Salten (1869-1945) played a prominent role in the cultural life of Vienna as social critic, essayist, playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. He founded the city's first cabaret, wrote operetta librettos, and penned books about his travels to Palestine and to the United States. He was an authoritative voice on matters of the theater, served as active and honorary President of the Vienna P.E.N.-club, wrote a weekly column for Theodor Herzl s Zionist newspaper, and was, in the words of his harshest critic Karl Kraus, 'the best journalist in Vienna.'

This biographical study firmly positions the multi-faceted Salten within his Vienna context.