World War II (1931-1945)
“The Second World War presented a mirror to the human condition which blinded anyone who looked into it.” — Norman Mailer, “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster” (1957)
Of the endless ocean of books on the Second World War, we have dozens and dozens of new and carefully chosen titles. I define it as beginning with the Japanese Empire’s invasion of Manchuria and ending with not only V-E and V-J Days but also the immediate crises of displaced people, the Soviet Union’s creation of the Iron Curtain, and the growing revelations of the extent of the Holocaust.
In significant ways the Second World War was the defining crucible of the 20th Century. The First World War was prelude, the legacy of the 19th Century’s imperialism, and the Cold War was the sequel. Of the making of books about it there is no end — but the persistence of good research and good writing, and good publication underscores the war’s centrality of the world we live in today and the world our descendents will live in for the foreseeable future.
Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death
Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death
Read the international sensation already translated into 10 languages!
A Brazilian journalist’s investigation unearths the story of a network of people responsible for hiding “The Angel of Death,” the infamous Nazi doctor who fled to South America and escaped justice for over thirty years.
Josef Mengele, known worldwide for unimaginably cruel human experiments and for sending thousands of people to the gas chambers at Auschwitz, was a fugitive in South America for thirty-four years after World War II, sought by the Israeli secret service and Nazi hunters. Hidden for half that time in Brazil, Mengele created his own paradise, a life where he could speak German, maintain his beliefs, his friends, and his connection with the homeland. Never caught, he lived out the rest of his days thanks to a small circle of expatriate Europeans willing to help him.
One such person was Austrian ex-pat Liselotte Bossert, who buried Mengele with false documents to keep his true identity hidden even after his death in 1979. When the world finally discovered where the remains of Josef Mengele were in 1985, kindergarten teacher Liselotte was escorted from the São Paulo school without further explanation to the students. One six-year-old, Betina Anton, could not let this mystery go. Decades later as an experienced journalist, Betina decided to investigate, but when she found Liselotte, she could not imagine how deep this case would take her.
Written in Portuguese and English by the author and based on extensive research, including interviews, unpublished documents, and news coverage from that era, Hiding Mengele is a suspenseful narrative not only haunted by the doctor’s horrific experiments, but also by the motivations driving a community to protect one of the most evil people known to mankind.