An eye-opening account of tenacity that brings the efforts of young anti-Nazi activists vividly to life.
Gertrud, Fritz, and Jean were among many young people who confronted fascism in this little-known true story of teenage resistance in Nazi Germany.
Based on firsthand accounts and historical documents, Gaddy’s debut tells the story of the loosely affiliated nonconformist youth groups known as the Edelweiss Pirates. Meeting in secret, camping in the woods, and attempting to avoid mandatory recruitment into Hitler youth organizations, their resistance activities ranged from scatological pranks and vandalism to flyering and sabotage to simply playing guitar and wearing their hair long. Though largely composed of straight Christians, many from socialist and communist families, the groups welcomed gay and Jewish youth. This matter-of-fact narrative shows how youth can stand against an overwhelming tide of fascism. It implicatively asks readers, “what would youdo?” while highlighting the actions of young people who refused to be complacent—and the consequences they suffered for it. It challenges common narratives that reserve praise for resistance for the politically centrist middle and upper classes. The author weaves a lesson in historiography into an already fascinating story, effectively utilizing black-and-white photographs, excerpts from primary sources, and images of historical documents in chapters that are divided into short, dynamic segments that will sustain readers’ interest.
An eye-opening account of tenacity that brings the efforts of young anti-Nazi activists vividly to life. (historical note, source notes, bibliography, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-5255-5541-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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A bold, sympathetic, well-written account of a perplexing and complicated subject.
A meticulously researched account of Mary Surratt, whose still-disputed role in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln led to her becoming the first woman executed by the United States government.
No one disputed the fact that actor John Wilkes Booth fired the shot that killed Lincoln. A simultaneous, fortuitously nonfatal, attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward made it immediately clear that a conspiracy was involved. In the weeks following, with Booth dead, seven men were arrested for the crime—and one woman, Surratt. A widow, devout Catholic, and former enslaver, Surratt owned and ran a boardinghouse where Booth sometimes met with the other defendants. From the start, newspapers reviled her and, during the trial, wrote sexist, prejudicial accounts of her description and actions. The trial itself, run by a military tribunal, was biased in favor of the guilt of the accused. Surratt was sentenced to death, refused clemency by President Andrew Johnson, and hung the following day. The controversy surrounding her execution did not die, however; conflicting testimony by her former boarder Louis Weichmann, in particular, created doubts that persist to this day. Miller does an admirable job of sifting through the often conflicting source material and judicial obfuscation. Her author’s note discusses which sources she most trusts and why. The full truth of this intriguing historical mystery will never be known.
A bold, sympathetic, well-written account of a perplexing and complicated subject. (who’s who, sources, notes) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18156-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
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An often-engaging novel about what it means to redefine the word home.
In Mendez’s novel based on a true story, a woman recounts her lavish life in Cuba and her subsequent move to Miami and the differences between the two cultures.
Marigrows up in an affluent and privileged family in Havana before the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s. They have a maid, chef, driver, bodyguards, and other luxuries awarded to the families of elite government officials; her father, Lorenzo Solano, is a cabinet member in the Batista government. As the youngest of three children, Mari feels like a bit of an outcast; she looks up to her two driven and talented older sisters, Lucia and Olivia, but always feels like she comes up short in comparison. Before her family’s move to Miami in 1959, after her father was exiled, Mari visited the United States on numerous occasions; every summer for a number of years, she and her sisters had attended a sleepaway camp in upstate New York. However, spending a few weeks in the tranquility of nature and living in cosmopolitan Miami, were two very different things—especially when Mari experienced a drastic lifestyle change in her new home. Yet, the family still has connections to their native land can never be completely severed. Mendez is a skilled writer and storyteller who conveys vivid, authentic moments while also advancing the narrative, as when Mari takes in the Miami scenery soon after her arrival: “I went outside to see the trees. I was happy when I saw a small palm tree. But it was nowhere near the size of our royal palm trees that lined the main avenues in Havana. This was a coconut palm tree. Everything here was smaller. My heart shrunk.” One wishes that the book spent more time in Cuba, which might have provided more direct insight into the changes that the main character experienced. However, it does address such historical events as the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, in which Olivia’s husband, Tony, is involved, and the Cuban missile crisis.
An often-engaging novel about what it means to redefine the word home.Pub Date: April 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798985194630
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Beati Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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