Lukacz’s gripping account of these decisive five days during WWII seems especially crucial to me today. As authoritarianism within the United States and elsewhere imperils democratic institutions, norms, and the rule of law, Lukacz exposes the seductions of appeasement while reminding us of the impossibility of ever appeasing a violent bully.
"Customers are raving about Five Days in London."-Amazon.com
"Gripping. . . . Lukacs's story is not new . . . but [he] has transformed it into a memorable drama."-M. F. Perutz, New York Review of Books
The days from May 24 to May 28, 1940, altered the course of the history of the twentieth century, as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. The decisive importance of these five days is the focus of John Lukacs's magisterial new…
A nuanced, factual profile of an actual sociopath, Michae Frankel’s The Art Thief describes the extensive career and eventual capture of a brazen, remarkably successful thief, a man driven not by material greed but by a compulsive lust for possessing beautiful objects. Frankel’s well-researched, absorbing narrative exposes the vulnerability of civil society to the predations of a person impervious to law and incapable of envisioning anyone’s needs or interests but his own.
As a museum-goer also concerned about the current fragility of civil society, I read this true story as a cautionary parable for our times, a vital reminder that not narcissistic acquisitiveness but honesty, trust, self-restraint, and universal equality under law sustain successful, desirable communities.
'His crime spree makes for a thrilling read' - The New Yorker
'A breath-taking read, as compelling as a Highsmith novel. I loved it' - Maggie O'Farrell
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The true story of the world's most prolific art thief, who accumulated a collection worth over $1.4 billion. A spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, from the bestselling author of The Stranger in the Wood.
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been…
Meticulously researched and well written, Frankel’s vivid narrative attests both to the atrocities of Nazism and to the extraordinary human capacity to endure and survive. For me, this book offers a powerful reminder that the historical facts of human conduct and experiences matter – especially in our current era of political polarization, dehumanization of "the other," and historical amnesia.
From a little-known chapter of Holocaust history, Rebecca Frankel's Into the Forest is one family's inspiring true story of love, escape, and survival.
In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods-through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids-until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. After the war they trekked across the Alps into Italy where they settled as refugees before eventually immigrating to the United States.
Interpreting some of the most compelling stories by the ancient Greek writer Herodotus (5th century BCE), my book exposes how Herodotus's wisdom can fortify us against political falsehoods and violent extremism.
Herodotus introduced the concept of objective truth derived from factual investigation and empirical deduction. Writing just before the start of the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), Herodotus addressed an increasingly polarized Greek world. His narratives demonstrate that the capacity for humane moral action depends on the ability to resist unthinking allegiance to authoritative fictions. Herodotus offers an indispensable, nonpartisan approach for countering poisonous ideologies and violent conflict emanating from all extremes of the political kaleidoscope.
