{"product_id":"9780998777009","title":"Hitler, Stalin and I: An Oral History","description":"Author: Heda Margolius Kovly\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9780998777009\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: DoppelHouse Press\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 23 Apr 2018\u003cbr\u003ePages: 192\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHeda Margolius Kovly (1919-2010) was a renowned Czech writer and translator born to Jewish parents. Her bestselling memoir, \u003ci\u003eUnder a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968\u003c\/i\u003e has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her crime novel \u003ci\u003eInnocence; or, Murder on Steep Street\u003c\/i\u003e-based on her own experiences living under Stalinist oppression-was named an NPR Best Book in 2015.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of Studs Terkel, \u003ci\u003eHitler, Stalin and I\u003c\/i\u003e is based on interviews between Kovly and award-winning filmmaker Helena Tretkov. In it, Kovly recounts her family history in Czechoslovakia, starving in the deprivations of Lodz Ghetto, how she miraculously left Auschwitz, fled from a death march, failed to find sanctuary amongst former friends in Prague as a concentration camp escapee, and participated in the liberation of Prague. Later under Communist rule, she suffered extreme social isolation as a pariah after her first husband Rudolf Margolius was unjustly accused in the infamous Slnsky Trial and executed for treason. Remarkably, Kovly, exiled in the United States after the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, only had love for her country and continued to believe in its people. She returned to Prague in 1996.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeda had an enormous talent for expressing herself. She spoke with precision and was descriptive and witty in places. I admired her attitude and composure, even after she had such extremely difficult experiences. Nazism and Communism afflicted Heda's life directly with maximum intensity. Nevertheless, she remained an optimist.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHelena Tretkov\u003c\/b\u003e has made over fifty documentary films. \u003ci\u003eHitler, Stalin and I\u003c\/i\u003e has garnered several awards in the Czech Republic and Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ePRAISE FOR KOVALY'S \u003ci\u003eINNOCENCE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA luminous testament from a dark time, \u003ci\u003eInnocence\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a clever homage to Raymond Chandler, and a portrait of a city  Prague  caught and held fast in a state of Kafkaesque paranoia. Only a great survivor could have written such a book. \u003cbr\u003e John Banville\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eInnocence\u003c\/i\u003e is an extraordinary novel ... in 1985, Kovly produced a remarkable work of art with the intrigue of a spy puzzle, the irony of a political fable, the shrewdness of a novel of manners, and the toughness of a hard-boiled murder mystery ... Just as few will anticipate the many surprises and artful turns of \u003ci\u003eInnocence\u003c\/i\u003e, a book sure to dazzle and please a great many readers.\u003cbr\u003e Tom Nolan, The Best New Mysteries, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKovly's skills as a mystery writer shines, as she uses suspense, hints, and suggestions to literally play with the reader's mind ... \u003ci\u003eInnocence\u003c\/i\u003e is an excellent novel for readers who are up for a challenging, intelligent, and complex story  one that paints a masterful picture of a bleak, Kafkaesque, and highly intriguing time, place, and cast of characters.\u003cbr\u003e The New York Journal of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough not out of love for Hegel, Heda Margolius Kovly makes a very Hegelian point: actions, as Hegel tells us in the section on Antigone in \u003ci\u003ePhenomenology of Spirit\u003c\/i\u003e  even seemingly small, meaningless actions  always reach beyond their intent; and the impossibility of foreseeing how the consequences will ripple outwards does not absolve us of guilt. As for innocence, the woman who went to hell twice wants her readers to know that there is no such thing.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46819967107230,"sku":"ADS-9780998777009","price":47.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9780998777009.jpg?v=1778467181","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9780998777009","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}