What is a place? A place where things happened, horrible things, the traces of which have been erased? Ukraine, for a long time, has been filled with these 'inconvenient places' which embarrass everyone, no matter which side of post-Soviet memorial politics they stand on: crimes of Stalinism, crimes of Nazism, crimes of nationalists, crimes of Russians; the killings follow one after another on this battered territory which aspires only to a form of peace and normality.With the photo...

A Nazi recounts his unsettling journey through WWII in this prize-winning novel: "a world-class masterpiece of astonishing brutality, originality, and force" (Michael Korda, The Daily Beast).A literary sensation when it was first published in France, Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones was awarded both the Gran Prix du roman de l'Academie and the Prix Goncourt. Second World War historian Antony Beevor called it "a great work of literary fiction, to ...

"We fight for our religion, for our women, for our land, and lastly to save our skin. As for them, they're only fighting to save their skin."In 2012, Jonathan Littell traveled to the heart of the Syrian uprising, smuggled in by the Free Syrian Army to the historic city of Homs. For three weeks, he watched as neighborhoods were bombed and innocent civilians murdered. His notes on what he saw on the ground speak directly of horrors that continue today in the ongoing civil wa...

Dr Max Aue, a former SS intelligence officer, looks back on the Eastern Front, Stalingrad, and the death camps as Nazi Germany falls.Set during the Second World War on the Eastern Front and in Berlin, The Kindly Ones is narrated by Dr Max Aue, who is both a cultivated intellectual and a participant in Nazi atrocities.From Stalingrad to the death camps and the nightmarish fall of Berlin, The Kindly Ones places Max Aue among figures including Eichmann, Himmle...

“Simply astounding. . . . The Kindly Ones is unmistakably the work of a profoundly gifted writer.” — TimeA literary prize-winner that has been an explosive bestseller all over the world, Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones has been called “a brilliant Holocaust novel. . . a world-class masterpiece of astonishing brutality, originality, and force,” (Michael Korda, The Daily Beast). Destined to join the pantheon of classic e...

A whole family has been murdered with a pickaxe. They were old Danner the farmer, an overbearing patriarch, his put-upon devoutly religious wife, and their daughter Barbara Spangler, whose husband Vincenz left her after fathering her daughter, Marianne. Also murdered was the Danners' new maidservant, Marie, who was regarded as slightly simple. Despite the brutal nature of the killings and the small village where it has taken place, the police have no leads. Officially the crime is unsolved...

Surrounded by evil, how long can one man's good intentions last?February 1941, Berlin: A murderer is on a killing spree. The Murder Squad is in the midst of the biggest manhunt the city has ever seen.Georg Heuser is the idealistic, brilliant young detective set to crack the case.July 1959, West Germany: Lawyers Max Kraus and Paula Siebert are investigating war crimes of unimaginable magnitude committed near the Russian Front, the em...

The return of a “superb” forgotten masterpiece about a young couple living in Weimar Germany during the Nazi’s rise to power (Graham Greene)Written just before the Nazis came to power, this darkly enchanting novel tells the simple story of a young couple trying to eke out a devent life amidst an economic crisis that’s transforming their country into a place of anger and despair. It was an international bestseller upon its release, and made into a Hollywood movie—by...

“Riveting and intimate. It is hard to imagine a more humanizing portrait of the American labor movement. A remarkable debut.”—Francisco Cantú, New York Times bestselling author of The Line Becomes a RiverOn the Line takes readers inside a bold five-year campaign to bring a union to the dangerous industrial laundry factories of Phoenix, Arizona. Workers here wash hospital, hotel, and restaurant linens and face harsh conditions: rout...

Four pitch-dark, twisty thrillers from Frédéric Dard, France's greatest noir writer 'The French master of noir' OBSERVER Frédéric Dard is the undisputed king of French noir. Authentic French Noir contains four of his most electrifying novels: riveting, disturbing thrillers that propel you into dangerous worlds of obsession and murder. INCLUDES: THE GRAVEDIGGERS' BREAD - Blaise is out of work and down on his luck when a chance encounter with a beautifulblonde has him hooked. He'll do anythi...

No mystery can stump the British aristocrat and sleuth in these four novels in the beloved series from "one of the greatest mystery story writers" ( Los Angeles Times ).A gentleman needs hobbies. For Lord Peter Wimsey—a Great War veteran with a touch of shell shock—collecting rare books, sampling fine wines, and catching criminals are all most pleasant diversions. In these Golden Age whodunits, "Lord Peter can hardly be sp...

One of The New York Times's 100 notable books of 2021"[George Packer's] account of America’s decline into destructive tribalism is always illuminating and often dazzling." —William Galston, The Washington PostAcclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and dividesIn the ...