His fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I (influencing a whole generation of German artists), and at the end of World War I in Switzerland. Due to the economic crisis in Germany and France after 1918, pioneer collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art which included works by Van Gogh were dissolved. Thus, British and American collectors (private as well as public) had the opportunity to acquire first rate works relatively late. The American novelist Irving Stone published an account of Vincent van Gogh's life in 1934 entitled "Lust for Life" that was largely based on the letters to Theo; this book and later the movie of the same name added to further the artist's fame.