The new evidence presented here makes this a must-read for students of World War II.
The story of how Brisard and Parshina were allowed into Russian archives is as compelling as the evidence of Hitler’s death they were shown.
Admittance to the hallowed State Archives of the Russian Federation was primarily achieved by the fame of the Russian-American Parshina. Her major achievement—the last interview with Stalin’s favorite daughter, Svetlana, who was hiding out in a hospice in the United States—made her a household name in Russia. Parshina’s understanding of the complex wheels of the bureaucratic Russian machine helped the authors gain access to the secret, sensitive, and complex files. Throughout their adventure in the bowels of Russian secrecy, Brisard’s French identity elicited hesitation, but Parshina’s quick thinking and wit always seemed to alleviate the situation. Meetings were postponed, delayed, and cancelled during their quest, which ran from early 2016 to late 2017. Their first meeting was with the director of the archives. During that meeting, they were shown the skull remains said to be Hitler’s. Along with that, there were some blood-stained table legs, photos, and documents from April 1945, which Brisard was allowed to photograph. The next step was to translate the documents, including memos written to Stalin regarding the discovery of Hitler’s bunker and interviews with prisoners. The ever paranoid Russians spread information among three separate services, all of which hated and distrusted each other. The authors’ perseverance paid off, as they eventually succeeded with all three and got permission for a forensic scientist to examine the remains. Alternating with the story of finding the documents, they reconstruct the tale of the last days in Berlin. Ultimately, the evidence shows that Hitler died in a bunker from a self-inflicted bullet wound; he did not escape. There are still questions unanswered, and who knows when they might be allowed to be asked.
The new evidence presented here makes this a must-read for students of World War II.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-306-92258-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2018
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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