Why read Fatherland?

Book cover of Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets

Book description

A New Yorker staff writer, investigates his grandfather, a Nazi Party Chief, in this "unflinching, gorgeously written, and deeply moving exploration of morality, family, and war" (Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain)

'The book we need right now' Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal

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Why read it?

1 author picked Fatherland as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Gabrielle Robinson

Author

Bilger’s spellbinding memoir hit me powerfully since both our Nazi grandfathers propelled us on journeys of detection and reckoning.

A staff writer for the New Yorker, Bilger grew up with German parents who never talked about their past. However, when a bundle of yellowed letters arrived at their home, it set Bilger on a breathtaking WWII mystery tour.

He tracked down people and documents to discover that his grandfather had been a Nazi party chief in Alsace. He promoted Nazi propaganda and tried to turn his French pupils into “good little Germans.”

Yet since he never used his power…

From Gabrielle's 3 favorite reads in 2023.