A Popular Penguin NZ classic. This classic has been released in the Popular Penguin format to mark 50 years of publishing in New Zealand. The format reaches further back to 1935, when Allen Lane founded Penguin Books with a clear vision: 'We believed in the existence of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price, and staked everything on it.' Man Alone is a literary landmark that has haunted our writing for decades. Set during the Great Depression, with vivid depictions of the Waterfront dispute, John Mulgan's vision of New Zealand society is as detached and unsentimental, with the power to reject and alienate.