Not I: Memoirs of a German Childhood (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781590516102)

One of the New York Times Books Review's 100 Notable Books of 2014

A portrait of an intellectually rigorous German household opposed to the Nazis and how its members suffered for their political stance

Few writers have deepened our understanding of the Third Reich as much as German historian, biographer, journalist, and critic Joachim Fest. His biography of Adolf Hitler has reached millions of readers around the world. Born in 1926, Fest experienced firsthand the rise of the Nazis, the Second World War, and a catastrophically defeated Germany, thus becoming a vital witness to these difficult years.

In this memoir of his childhood and youth, Fest offers a far-reaching view of how he experienced the war and National Socialism. True to the German Bildung tradition, Fest grows up immersed in the works of Goethe, Schiller, M rike, Rilke, Kleist, Mozart, and Beethoven. His father, a conservative Catholic teacher, opposes the Nazi regime and as a result loses his job and status. Fest is forced to move to a boarding school in the countryside that he despises, and in his effort to come to terms with his father's strong political convictions, he embarks on a tireless quest for knowledge and moral integrity that will shape the rest of his life and writing career.

Author: Joachim C. Fest
ISBN-10: 1590516109
ISBN-13: 9781590516102
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Language: English
Published: 02/11/2014
Pages: 458
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 8.62h x 5.50w x 0.98d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2013
New Yorker (The) 03/02/2014 pg. 17
New York Times Book Review 03/09/2014 pg. 26
New Yorker (The) 04/07/2014 pg. 73
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/07/2014 pg. 28