One of MacInnes’ inspirations in writing on foreign affairs and espionage was her honeymoon to the European mainland, Bavaria in particular. As she and Highet witnessed the oppression of the German totalitarian regime, she planned to write against the oppressive forces of the Nazi government, and kept notes for that purpose. In the early 1930s, MacInnes collaborated with Highet to translate
German literature, which helped finance their summer travels through Europe. These European excursions gave MacInnes exposure to locations that she used later as settings for her espionage thrillers. That year he accepted an appointment as a professor and chairman of the department of classics (Latin and Greek) at
Columbia University in
New York City. MacInnes and Highet produced two books together, translations of German works. In 1939, Highet came across MacInnes's notes and commentary on Hitler's rise to power, and other matters of contemporary politics. He encouraged her to use them as the basis for a novel. Her 1944 book,
The Unconquerable, was called
While Still We Live in the US, the name being from the Polish national anthem,
Poland Is Not Yet Lost:
Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, Kiedy my żyjemy ("Poland has not yet perished, While still we live"). It gives such an accurate portrayal of the
Polish resistance that some reviewers and readers thought she was using classified information given to her by her husband. Her husband Gilbert Highet died in 1978. MacInnes died in New York City on 30 September 1985, at age 77, following a stroke she had suffered three weeks earlier. MacInnes's writing reflects an affinity for
Arthur Koestler and
Rebecca West, as she strongly opposed any form of
tyranny and
totalitarianism. ==Works==