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If This Is A Man/The Truce (50th Anniversary Edition): Surviving Auschwitz

'Miraculous' Philippe Sands
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( 21,978 ratings, 1,174 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
If This Is a Man/The Truce by Primo Levi is a profound memoir chronicling the author's harrowing experiences during and after his imprisonment in Auschwitz. The first part, If This Is a Man, details Levi's brutal life in the concentration camp, while the second part, The Truce, follows his journey across war-torn Europe as he seeks a path to freedom and recovery. This 50th Anniversary Edition presents a stark, personal reflection on human resilience and dignity in the face of unimaginable adversity.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This profound memoir vividly recounts the harrowing experiences of surviving Auschwitz, offering an insightful exploration into the resilience of the human spirit amid unimaginable suffering. You might enjoy this compelling narrative if you are interested in historical accounts, personal stories of endurance, or the broader implications of humanity's darkest moments.

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Primo Levi's classic memoir of the Holocaust is being reissued as one of five titles celebrating Abacus's 50th anniversary. Featuring a new introduction from the author of Jews Don't Count , David Baddiel.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
A new edition of Primo Levi's classic memoir of the Holocaust, with an introduction by David Baddiel, author of Jews Don't Count

With the moral stamina and intellectual poise of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, dutiful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose... One of the greatest human testaments of the era. Philip Roth

Levi's voice is especially affecting, so clear, firm and gentle, yet humane and apparently untouched by anger, bitterness or self-pity... If This Is a Man is miraculous, finding the human in every individual who traverses its pages. Philippe Sands

The death of Primo Levi robs Italy of one of its finest writers... One of the few survivors of the Holocaust to speak of his experiences with a gentle voice. Guardian

[What] gave it such power... was the sheer, unmitigated truth of it; the sense of what a book could achieve in terms of expanding one's own knowledge and understanding at a single sitting... few writers have left such a legacy... A necessary book. Independent

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Primo Levi's If This Is a Man/The Truce is often celebrated for its poignant and humane portrayal of Holocaust experiences. Critics have praised Levi's gentle yet powerful voice, remarkable for its absence of anger or bitterness. Noted as a meticulous and straightforward record of unimaginable suffering, Levi's work is regarded as an essential and transformative piece of literature that expands understanding and highlights what it means to be human.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780349142869

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 February 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Abacus

Contributors:

  • Introduction by David Baddiel
  • Translated by Stuart Woolf

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 36.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 360g

Pages: 464

About the Author

Primo Levi was born in Turin in 1919 and trained as a chemist. Arrested as a member of the anti-fascist resistance during the war, he was deported to Auschwitz. His experiences there are described in his two classic autobiographical works, If This is a Man and The Truce. He also wrote a number of universally highly acclaimed novels and essay collections, including If Not Now, When?, Moments of Reprieve and The Wrench. The Drowned and the Saved, Levi's impassioned attempt to understand the 'rationale' behind the concentration camps, was completed shortly before his tragic death in Turin in 1987.

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