{"product_id":"we-germans-9780316429801","title":"We Germans","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA letter from a German soldier to his grandson recounts the terrors of war on the Eastern Front, and a postwar ordinary life in search of atonement, in this \"raw, visceral, and propulsive\" novel (\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times Book Review \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eEditors' Choice\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In the throes of the Second World War, young Meissner, a college student with dreams of becoming a scientist, is drafted into the German army and sent to the Eastern Front. But soon his regiment collapses in the face of the onslaught of the Red Army, hell-bent on revenge in its race to Berlin. Many decades later, now an old man reckoning with his past, Meissner pens a letter to his grandson explaining his actions, his guilt as a Nazi participator, and the difficulty of life after war. Found among his effects after his death, the letter is at once a thrilling story of adventure and a questing rumination on the moral ambiguity of war. In his years spent fighting the Russians and attempting afterward to survive the Gulag, Meissner recounts a life lived in perseverance and atonement. Wracked with shame--both for himself and for Germany--the grandfather explains his dark rationale, exults in the courage of others, and blurs the boundaries of right and wrong. \u003ci\u003eWe Germans\u003c\/i\u003e complicates our most steadfast beliefs and seeks to account for the complicity of an entire country in the perpetration of heinous acts. In this breathless and page-turning story, Alexander Starritt also presents us with a deft exploration of the moral contradictions inherent in saving one's own life at the cost of the lives of others and asks whether we can ever truly atone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlexander Starritt has written for a wide variety of publications, including \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guard­ian\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplemen\u003c\/i\u003et. He is also a translator of German and has translated the works of Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig, among others, into English. Born to a Scottish father and a German mother, he grew up in the northeast of Scotland and lives in London.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Little Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50915733274898,"sku":"9780316429801","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0f63c98b-1904-4400-82dd-87b8627b5e4b.jpg?v=1738827887","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/we-germans-9780316429801","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}