Fatherland by Karen Schur-Narula
Wood Horse Press, 597 pages, 2016. http:www.amazon.com
Leonard H. Le Blanc III
It is fascinating to note the eerie parallels between the current situation in the U.S. and Germany’s Weimar Republic during the 1920s. Overt racism, street thugs who brawl against opponents, law and order breakdown, the polarization of all political parties, financial turmoil, frequent social strife, the rise of demagogues, intolerance and intolerance and, in general, a whole society that is visibly disintegrating and rapidly sliding into chaos. That horrible situation allowed the rise of Adolph Hitler in the 1930s and Donald Trump, for four years, most recently. We know how Nazi Germany turned out.
Karen Schur-Narula has done us all a real, even important, service by revising Hitler’s Germany through the eyes of a young woman who was enraptured, even dazzled, by Adolph Hitler and blinded by her own unbreakable ambition. This grand literary effort is both a most impressive, sprawling historical tale and a close, intimate portrait of a very determined, extremely talented, headstrong young woman and her wrenching journey to enlightenment and truth. A very highly recommended read for all.
