The trial of Adolf Eichmann began in 1961 under a deceptively simple label; "criminal case 40/61." Hannah Arendt covered the trial for the New Yorker magazine and recorded her observations in Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil. Harry Mulisch was also assigned to cover the trial for a Dutch news weekly. Arendt would later say in her book's preface that Mulisch was one of the few people who shared her views on the character of Eichmann. At the time; Mulisch was a young and little-known writer; in the years since he has since emerged as an author of major international importance; celebrated for such novels as The Assault and The Discovery of Heaven.Mulisch modestly called his book on case 40/61 a report; and it is certainly that; as he gives firsthand accounts of the trial and its key players and scenes (the defendant's face strangely asymmetric and riddled by tics; his speech absurdly baroque). Eichmann's character comes out in his incessant bureaucratizing and calculating; as well as in his grandiose visions of himself as a Pontius Pilate-like innocent. As Mulisch intersperses his dispatches from Jerusalem with meditative accounts of a divided and ruined Berlin; an eerily rebuilt Warsaw; and a visit to the gas chambers of Auschwitz; Criminal Case 40/61; the Trial of Adolf Eichmann becomes as a disturbing and highly personal essay on the Nazi extermination of European Jews and on the human capacity to commit evil ever more efficiently in an age of technological advancement.Here presented with a foreword by Debórah Dwork and translated for the first time into English; Criminal Case 40/61 provides the reader with an unsettling portrait not only of Eichmann's character but also of technological precision and expertise. It is a landmark of Holocaust writing.
#556391 in Books Raasch Charles 2016-10-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.31 x 1.32 x 6.38l; .0 #File Name: 081171893X416 pagesImperfect Union A Father s Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg
Review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Great Read!By CustomerRaasch has written so much more than another battle story. You'll learn more than you knew about the battle for sure; but you'll also learn about the rise of American war correspondents; the impact of the battle on the citizens of Gettysburg and the incredible saga of a NY Times reporter's search for his fallen son in the aftermath of the fight. One of the reviews I read used the word "poetic" to describe the book. It is surely that. This is a great addition to canon of Civil War literature.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. its people and the battles being fought between what the combatants thought was good and evilBy Susan SmithThis book is impressively researched and written in a manner that brings you back to the Civil War - the time; its people and the battles being fought between what the combatants thought was good and evil.Chuck Raasch has a well-developed storytelling voice he uses to bring home the agony of a father searching for his wounded son while also trying to convey the impact of one of the most important battles of the Civil War.This is one of the most in-depth and well-written books about the Civil War I have read. My father had a lifelong interest in Civil War history. I wish he was still alive to read this book.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Loved reading about the birth of the war correspondent and ...By Customerthis was a very interesting book. Loved reading about the birth of the war correspondent and the role the press played in the sway of public opinion about the War of Northern Aggression. The tender story of a father's quest for his nephew and son as they lay dead on the battlefield and the horrid realities of the war were well written. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War.
