Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary
Traudl Junge – Ed. Melissa Muller
Like the accounts written by Hitler’s best friend August “Gustl” Kubizek, Until the Final Hour shows the weirdly human side of Hitler. There is something so very disconcerting about the idea of a madman having friends, normal conversations, afternoon tea and all the other conventional trappings of everyday life. Of course, it stands to reason that despots have to have some charm and personality (faked or not) otherwise they wouldn’t be able to rise as they do. Screaming, foaming madmen rarely control states if those are the only things they do. But still, my mind simply can’t wrap around the image of Hitler ...
The Young Hitler I Knew
August “Gustl” Kubizek
The Young Hitler I Knew is by far the most engrossing book I have ever read about Hitler. Gustl Kubizek was a man in a position no one else had ever been – he was Hitler’s best friend from age 15-19. In all likelihood, he was also the only real friend Hitler ever had. Kubizek chronicles his early years when he and Hitler attended the opera religiously. The two soon became inseparable.
Kubizek states their friendship worked so well because of his own gentle, pliant and wholly apolitical nature, plus his ability to listen patiently to long rants. In all likelihood this is true. Even in his youth, Hitler made wild impassioned...
Ancient Micronesia and the Lost City of Nan Madol
Ancient Micronesia and the Lost City of Nan Madol - David Hatcher Childress
I first ran about Nan Madol last month in Oliver Sack’s Island of the Colorblind. The city of Nan Madol is located deep in Micronesia. The partially sunken city once covered 11 square miles and was cut through with Venetian style canals and ringed with man-made islands. The massive walls are comprised of 250 million tons of basalt – the equivalent of a small mountain. And yet, the tiny Micronesian islands surrounding Nan Madol can only support a few thousand people. The many-ton basalt crystal are far too large to be moved by canoe or raft. Carbon dating gives dates as early as...
Where We Lived
Where We Lived – Jack Larkin
Despite the uninspiring title and cover, Larkin’s book was thoroughly enjoyable. Focusing on homes of the common family from the times of the founding fathers, Larkin uses a wealth of images taken by the HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey), a project created during the Depression for out-of-work architects and photographers. Interspersed with pictures of the often dilapidated buildings are etchings and commentary by visitors to early America. While some found the new American cities charming (Charles Dickens) others loathed most that they came across (Joanna Trollope) and colorfully maligned them. While ...
London Then and Now
London Then and Now – Diane Bursten
I’m not sure what photos surprised me more in London Then and Now - the photos of landmarks virtually unchanged in over 100 years or those that were completely obliviated with not a hint that they ever existed. In both cases, images of massive stone and brick edifices – Victorian and older – seem timeless in their immensity. It doesn’t seem possible that structures this large could be removed. Yet, as an American, I found it equally surprising that many buildings which would long have succumb to the wreckers ball here are still being used. Filled with images of both notable landmarks and more ...
Witness to Nuremberg
Richard Sonnenfeldt
This is by far the most immensely engrossing book I have read in months. Without a pause, Sonnenfeldt leaps into a description of how he, a young army grunt, was pulled from the innards of a jeep he was repairing and whisked off to Nuremberg to become the chief interpreter for the Americans. Sonnenfeldt’s descriptions bounce from interrogating Goring to wistful remembrances of beautiful women in his office to useful advice on going drinking with generals (eat 2 tablespoons of butter beforehand to coat your stomach). His commentary runs to aghast horror and fascination at what the Nazi prisoners have done, along with a strong streak of relief that he avoided ...