{"product_id":"we-germans","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.","brand":"Little Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48856000168141,"sku":"9780316429801","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/1529\/9533\/files\/imageloader_5561176a-5fd9-42b3-94f2-e59867b9ffd0.jpg?v=1794509763","url":"https:\/\/booksatmidnight.com\/products\/we-germans","provider":"Books At Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}