{"product_id":"the-war-of-our-childhood-wolfgang-w-e-samuel-9781578064823","title":"The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II","description":"One survivor tells of the fire-bombing of Dresden. Another survivor recounts the pervasive fear of marauding Russian and Czech bandits raping and killing. Children recall fathers who were only photographs and mothers who were saviors and heroes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e These are typical in the stories collected in \u003ci\u003eThe War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II\u003c\/i\u003e. For this book Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, a childhood refugee himself after the fall of Nazi Germany, interviewed twenty-seven men and women who as children--by chance and sheer resilience--survived Allied bombs, invading armies, hunger, and chaos. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Our eyes carried no hate, only recognition of what was,\" Samuel writes of his childhood. \"Peace was an abstraction. The world we Kinder knew nearly always had the word 'war' appended to it.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Samuel's heartfelt narratives from these innocent survivors are invariably riveting and often terrifying. Each engrossing story has perilous and tragic moments--school children in Leuna who are sent home during an air raid but are strafed as moving targets; fathers who exist only as distant figures, returning to their families long after the war--or not at all; mothers who are raped and tortured; families who are forced into a seemingly endless relocation that replicates the terrors of war itself. In capturing such experiences from nearly every region of Germany and involving people of every socio-economic class, this is a collection of unique memories, but each account contributes to a cumulative understanding of the war that is more personal than strategic surveys and histories. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For Samuel and the survivors he interviewed, agony and fright were part of everyday life, just as were play, wondrous experience, and above all perseverance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"My focus,\" Samuel writes, \"is on the astounding ability of a generation of German children to emerge from debilitating circumstances as sane and productive human beings.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Wolfgang W. E. Samuel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1578064821\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781578064823\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/27\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 376\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.32h x 6.48w x 1.20d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/15\/2002 pg. 1016\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2002 pg. 51\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUniv PR Books for Public Libry\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2003 pg. 95 - Outstanding","brand":"Wolfgang W. E. Samuel","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43980123144447,"sku":"9781578064823","price":35.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_af012b9e-2a2e-4846-9c0c-7b7603a8c969.jpg?v=1683248530","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-war-of-our-childhood-wolfgang-w-e-samuel-9781578064823","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}