Puss Reboots: Blog: August 2009: Shipwreck of a Nation

Recent posts

Reviews:
Adaptogenia by Wayne Wightman personal collection
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell library book
The Cat Barked? by Lydia Monks library book
Cat Skidoo by Bethany Roberts and RW Alley personal collection
City Above the Sea by Stephen Alan Saft review copy
City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer library book
Corona Centurion™ by Terry Bisson personal collection
Economancer by Carolyn Ives Gilman personal collection
A Field Guide to Monsters by Johan Olander library book
Grey Seas Under by Farley Mowat bookcrossing
Grimm's Grimmest by Tracy Arah Dockray bookcrossing
Grumpy Cat by Britta Teckentrup personal collection
Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them by Rolfe Cobleigh bookcrossing
Harriet's Recital by Nancy Carlton personal collection
I Feel Skitty by Tracey West personal collection
Kin by Holly Black review copy
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh bookcrossing
Mama, Don't Go by Rebecca Wells library book
No, Never! by Sally O. Lee review copy
Oh, the Things I Know! by Al Franken bookcrossing
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper library book
Paradiso Lost by Albert E. Cowdrey personal collection
Project Anastrophe by George Karnikis review copy
The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days by Fern Reiss bookcrossing
The Shipwreck of a Nation by H Peter Nennhaus review copy
Skim by Mariko Tamaki review copy
Sooner or Later or Never Never by Gary Jennings personal collection
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss bookcrossing
The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield bookcrossing
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee bookcrossing
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon library book
Yoko Writes Her Name by Rebecca Wells library book

Previous month

Shipwreck of a Nation: 08/12/09

The Shipwreck of a Nation by H. Peter Nennhaus is more childhood memoir than a history of World War II from a German's point of view. The author was five when Hitler came to power and sixteen at the end of the war.

While he has included a short bibliography and notes from diaries of older relatives, ultimately the book's timeline comes down to childhood memories. I got through the first seventy pages (about three chapters) and I had to set the book aside. The overwhelming impression the book gives in that short amount of time is one of warm-fuzzy nostalgia. He had a happy childhood and he in a not so round about way thanks Hitler for it.

When the book isn't steeped in nostalgia it switches to a more apologetic tone, trying to reconcile the happy memories with the actual events of the time. Unfortunately these attempted moments of historical analysis didn't strike me a genuine.

If anything, The Shipwreck of a Nation helps to prove the thesis of the second chapter of Going Postal. Happy, well adjusted people don't revolt but they are easily caught up in the fury when a crackpot does, no matter how off his rocker he is.